Kidnapped
by Ryu-tsume
Summary: Sam's been kidnapped! What do these four men want from her, and why? The rating on this may change at some point.
1. I'm working for the fantastic four

    Kidnapped Chap.1 : I'm working for the fantastic four.                                                              

Hey peoples! This is the part where I tell you I own nothing , so lets get on with it. Weib and Schwarz don't belong to me.  They belong to all their original owners.  Sam's my creation though. 

Sorry , but this isn't yaoi! Yeah , I'm aware I'll burn for this, but it's better this way.  My yaoi stories would stink , my hearts just not in it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Her body felt heavy, as if it where made of lead, and the world around her was dark,  yet seemed to spin  madly .  Carefully, Sam forced her tired eyes open , letting the piercing morning light in. The room around her was alien, with white walls, blue  carpet and a desk. She couldn't turn her head to inspect the rest of the room for the stiffness in her body.        Where was she? She couldn't think , her head ached and everything in it was fuzzy.   ( I didn't get drunk, did I?  No, I don't think I did. But then, where the hell am I ?)

_______________________________________________________________

Opening the door of her apartment, Sam stepped inside the darkened room. She moved around carefully and turned on the light. It flickered into being and the young woman  set her stuff on the table.    Sighing heavily , Sam ran a hand through her short blue hair and began getting her dinner ready,

Cup-o-Noodles.       After sitting down on the couch, she turned on the TV and settled down to an evening of noodles and news.       

       She woke from a light doze to find her cat licking her nose.  Sleepily she sat up and ran her hand over its back. 

     "How in the world did you get out of my room?" She asked the little black cat in a puzzled tone. Sam had shut him into her room to keep him from bugging her during dinner. 

      The cat meowed and headed towards his food bowl.   Standing up, She stretched and fallowed him.  (Huh, how'd the hall light get off ? I thought I left it on.) She thought to herself, walking  down the hall.  The cat gave another meow from somewhere in the darkness. 

    "Ok, ok ,Nightmare, I'll feed you."  Sam found the cat bowls and filled them.  

    Leaving the cat to its food, She turned and headed back down the hall to the living room. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind, a pair of hands wrapping tight around her waist and mouth . Yelping, Sam struggled franticly, but her captor was too strong to break free of. Even when she elbowed them in the stomach, the grip never faltered. 

    Suddenly she felt a prick of pain in her neck. She continued to fight and attempt to make some sort of noise. But the one holding her was a good deal taller then she, and easily held Sam off the ground so she couldn't stamp her feet or kick them. After a minute the world started to spin and her body got heavy.  Then everything went black.  

_______________________________________________________________________________             

         Sam forced her weighted body to move till she was off her stomach and more on her side.  As she did this, she realized that her hands were cuffed behind her back, and that they hurt almost as much as her head did. ( Ok this is not a good thing. ) She thought, a wave of panic washing over her.    The young woman looked down at herself and was relieved  to find she was fully clothed and looked in order. She also noticed she was lying on a bed, as if someone had just dropped her there and left.    

         Suddenly she heard a door behind her open and someone enter. Sam stiffened, if that was possible, considering how she felt.          

      "Well, it seems our sleeping beauty has finally awoken ." A sly male voice said from somewhere behind her.  Sam didn't move, if he wanted her to look at him, he would have to come to the other side of the bed.          The guy seemed to realize this and she could hear him making his  way around the bed.          

         She was surprised to see two men move into her line of vision, she hadn't even heard the other one.  But what surprised her even more was what they were.   (Wow a telepath and a clairvoyant, don't see those at the same time very often.) She thought,  lifting her head off the bed slightly to get a better look.    The clairvoyant was very well dressed.  He wore a cream colored suite and glasses that had slipped down his nose. His hair was black and he had light brown eyes. His face seemed as if it  was one very familiar with snarling and sneering.  Something about him seemed very shrewd and unfeeling.         

         The telepath was more casually dressed, with white pants, a white shirt and a dark green coat that sat open  over his shoulders. His hair was long and orange, held out of his face by a yellow bandana. His eyes where a little odd, as he moved from shadow to light they seemed to change from blue to green. His face held a sort of smirk,  which one could consider devious or humorous depending on the situation.  He also seemed to have a constant " I know something you don't know!" look to him.  Sam wasn't sure, but she had an idea that she might have seen him before.

_______________________________________________________________________________         

        Sam paused in her typing to close her eyes and yawn. She was tired and bored . Working as a secretary was an amazingly uneventful job, even if it was for the mayor.      

     Turning back to her computer, she began to type again. After about ten minutes she heard the door open. Looking up, she forced a friendly secretary smile onto her face and addressed the two approaching men. What she noticed first made her blink.( Huh, a telekinetic, and  …uh oh a telepath.)

         Telepaths were normally trouble for her. They always knew, that she knew, what they were. Which meant they would start to bug her about one thing or another. They tended to be nosey little snots . Luckily there weren't many out there.   

      This one approached with a smirk on his face, his long orange hair falling in his face. 

The young boy beside him was completely the opposite , his face blank and his hair a short Japanese style.      

        The telepath reached the desk and addressed her. Sam tried hard to keep her mind as blank as possible, but of course, the moment she told her mind to quit thinking, it went into overtime.   

      The telepath pushed his yellow headband up slightly.  

      "We're here to see the mayor." He said, a lopsided grin on his face.

      ( Don't think! Don't think!  Shut up, that's thinking too!) Sam thought desperately as she stuttered.        

      "Do you have an appointment sir?"  The telepaths smile widened as if to say " I know your trying to hide  something from me, it's not working."       

      Yeah , we should be under "Crawford." 

      For some reason Sam felt it would be a very bad thing if this man knew  what she was, she wasn't sure why though. Sam nodded and turned  to the computer, trying to find the name and at the same time keep her mind sufficiently blank. But by the look on the redheads face she could tell he wasn't convinced.     Suddenly, a voice slipped into her mind, like an ice cube down the back of  her shirt. 

     (You know what we are, don't you? I've never met some one who could recognize us. How did you know? ) Sam shivered involuntarily at the cunning hiss that underlined the mans voice.  

     (Crap.) She thought . Sam glanced at him quickly then looked back at the screen. She supposed she might as well answer, if she didn't he'd just squeeze it out of her, there was no getting rid of a telepath once they got curious.   

      ( I just know, the same way you just hear thoughts, and your friend just moves things.)  

 The redhead tilted his head slightly to the side and grinned.  

      ( Your not surprised that there's a voice in your head beside your own?) 

      ( It's happened before, I'm pretty shitty at hiding what I am from you annoying telepaths.) She thought to him and at the same time managed to locate the name.   Sam looked at the man in front of her.

     " It'll be about 15 minutes before the mayor can see you."

  The telepath nodded and gave her a triumphant smile.  

     (Don't give me that look, getting me to talk to you is not much of an accomplishment! I know your type! I don't have the energy to play  with a pushy jackass like you. ) She thought to his back as he headed towards a seat.  The guy just turned his head slightly and grinned at her.       The boy looked from the telepath to Sam as he fallowed his friend to the chairs. He could obviously tell something had passed between the secretary and his friend, but he didn't look particularly sure as to what it was.

_______________________________________________________________________________

        Sam focused on the telepath, he was familiar. She remembered him now, she had seen him about a half a year ago at the mayors office. It sort of surprised the young woman that she had actually forgotten him, he was a memorable person.  

           As Sam looked at the two, she realized that if they had passed them on the street, her friends would have put them in the "yummy" category of their guy filling cabinet. But  in her opinion at this point, they'd be in the creepy file. 

        Since the two men hadn't volunteered any information , and didn't look as if they planned to any time soon, Sam decided to start asking questions.         Who the hell are you people, and what  do you want from me?  

              The  one with glasses raised an eyebrow while the other just grinned wider .      

     "We don't want anything _from _you. We just want you." The clairvoyant said smoothly.                 

      "What, couldn't find a girlfriend the old-fashioned way?" Sam asked sarcastically. 

       The redhead laughed and looked at the other guy in a way which said " you should have seen that coming." The black haired guy didn't seem moved.         

       " I would suggest you take this more seriously, Miss Joan. You know what I meant, we are as aware of your power as  you are of ours." He said quietly.  Sam blinked.

       ( What else dose Mister Frost know about me? Well, whatever he knows, it's probably chuckles fault over there .)    The telepath grinned at her like a hyena. The other one glared at him, then turned back to her.          

        "You're here so we can offer you a proposition." He said evenly.       

          "Last time I checked, people made propositions over tables." Sam said, matching his tone.   The black haired man ignored her comment and continued.         

      "We would like you to join our group."      

        "Group?" Sam repeated skeptically. 

       "What,  like a Girl Scout group?"           

       "A group of assassins." The man said evenly.           

       "Assassins? Your kidding right?" Sam asked, a bewildered look on her face.  The man just stared at her.      

        "You're not kidding, are you?"  Yeah see there's a problem then. Sam started , a matter of fact tone to her voice.  

         "The only gun I've ever used… squirted water, and I've never used a knife for anything but cutting food. How in the world could I be helpful to you?"          

         "Oh we don't want you to kill anybody, we just want the use of your power." The clairvoyant said with a small smirk.           

         "My power?" She asked simply.         

        "Yes, we want you to identify other people with powers like ours." The man said.         

        "What so you can kidnap them too?" Sam asked sarcastically.         

        " That , among other things.' The clairvoyant said with a cruel smile. Sam felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.       

         "What happens if I refuse to join you?" She asked cautiously, already having an idea of the answer.             

The man grinned slightly.         

       "Well then, we'll just have to kill you, wont we?" He said.          

        "I was afraid of that." Sam said with a sad, tired, yet slightly annoyed sigh. She let her head fall to the bed.         

             "So will you join us ?"  The clairvoyant asked.          

       She sighed again. "Fine, I'll join you ." Her tone was reluctant.  The two guys smiled in a pleased manor.        

      "Good girl ." The annoying black haired guy said as if she was a child.         

       "Yeah, yeah , would you take these stupid handcuffs off me? They hurt and I feel like I'm in the opening scene of some kinky porno movie." Sam complained.  

The clairvoyant raised an eye brow.        

        "We'll take them off , but if you try something stupid, I wont hesitate to shoot you."        Sam looked at him as if he was an idiot for thinking she'd do anything .  

        "I've been warned ." She drawled.        

 The guy looked at the redhead , who pulled a key out of his pocket .  Sam let herself roll onto her stomach , making it easer for the telepath to get the cuffs off.   The guy fiddled over her wrists for a moment before finally getting them unlocked and pulling them off .   He  then backed off and put the cuffs in his pocket.       

       "They would be yours, wouldn't they?" Sam said sarcastically to the redhead, nursing her poor raw wrists.    The guy just grinned at her in that lopsided way of his.   

      She rubbed her wrists for a few moments then turned back to the two men who were just staring at her.         

      "Well? Now what?" She asked.      The clairvoyant answered. 

        "Now you'll go to your home with Schuldig and bring everything you can carry in two suitcases back here. Then pay your rent , quit your job and tell your close friends that you're moving away. If anyone finds out what's  really going on, Schuldig will shoot them . So keep that in mind when your talking to the people you care about. "The guys voice was serious and even.       Sam raised herself up on her elbows. 

      "Jeez, you've got this all figured out don't you?  And let me guess, he's Schuldig." She pointed to the redhead. 

 The telepath bowed mockingly.    

       "So, who are you then?" She asked the black haired guy.                 

       " My names Brad Crawford ." He said tonelessly.   Sam nodded and began to pull herself up off her stomach. Which was a chore in itself considering how stiff and exhausted her body felt. 

          She managed to get herself into a sitting position at the edge of the bed and rub her aching head. Then giving the two guys a small glare she said.          

       " I don't know what you shot me full of, but whatever it was, you might want to try a different brand, at least if you plan on  using your hostages for anything productive."        

The two guys said nothing  to this, continuing instead to stare at her in a "we're waiting" fashion.        

Sam sighed and forced herself off the bed . Then immediately fell to the floor with a yelp.     

       "Ow." She said and rubbed her knees.  Grabbing onto the mattress, she pulled herself back up. All the while, beginning to understand how a new born giraffe feels.  Her legs felt as if they would crumble out from under her at any moment and she had to use the nearby wall to keep from falling back onto the bed.      

          "Oh don't bother moving , its not like I need help or anything ." She said disdainfully to the two guys that still just stood staring at her.   They seemed to take that as a signal that she was ready to go since they both started towards the door.   

        Sam  left the safety of the wall to fallow them down a hall and into a nice looking living room.  In the living room were two other guys. One was the kid she had seen with Schuldig. He was sitting in a large chair, busily typing at  a  laptop. The other was missing an eye and seemed to be trying to fit a fork into a light socket.        The guy called Brad pointed at the kid across the room.        

     "That's Nagi Naoe."  

The kid looked up briefly at the sound of his name, inspected  Sam momentarily, and  went back to typing.    Brad then pointed at the other guy.       

       "That's Farfarello, it's probably in your best interest that you stay away from him. He's a little…." "insane."   Schuldig finished for Brad.    Sam nodded as she watched sparks fly out of the light socket and the man fall to the floor twitching.    

        Brad had left to make sure Farfarello hadn't killed himself, leaving Sam and Schuldig near the front door.   

       "Well I suppose we should go." Schuldig said with a small grin.      

        "Lead the way." Sam waved her hand at the door tiredly.

       They entered a hallway and got on an elevator.

        Sam leaned heavily against the elevator wall and closed her eyes.

      ( Why couldn't I have been on a coffee break when the telepath came to the office? I could be sleeping right now but noooo, I'm working for the Fantastic Four. )  Sam could hear Schuldig laughing quietly.  She just ignored him and stayed slumped against the wall.   

         She slept through the majority of the car ride, awaking finally when the car stopped in front of her apartment building.  Sam was feeling better by then, the effects of the drug nearly gone .        She looked at her home, then at Schuldig. 

       "You knew your way here without any of my help, exactly how many time have you been here ?" Her tone was accusing.   Schuldig shrugged.        

      "Enough times to memorize the route."   

Sam stared at him.      

       "Hmm, and you were watching me how long before kidnapping  me?"  Her tone was the same .      

The redhead grinned.       

        "About two weeks." 

Sam gave him a mild glare and got out of the car.

         As she came to her door Schuldig pulled a key out of his pocket which she recognized.  She checked the apartment door and found it locked.  She gave the redhead a confused look.    

       "You locked the door on your way out?"          

        "And we turned off the lights and TV." He added, sounding like a child looking for praise.  The guy then handed her the key.        

     "Why? She asked." Opening the door and stepping inside.        

      "We didn't want it to look like you left in a hurry or anything.' He said in a mild tone, fallowing her.    

       She left the telepath in the living room and went into her room.  

       After a quick shower and a change of cloths, Sam pulled out two large maple chests her grandmother had given her. She was half way through packing her cloths when Schuldig walked in . He raised an eyebrow at the large wooden chests.    

       "Um , I'm not sure that's what Brad meant  by suitcases." 

Sam shrugged. 

      "Your friend should be more specific when he  tells a girl to give up her life ."      

 Schuldig gave her an amused look.        

         "I wonder if  those will even fit in the car." He mused aloud.   

       The chests did fit, barley.   Sam left the money for the last few months on her lease under the landlords door  and gave her cat and few pieces of furniture to the neighbors.

 After leaving her apartment,  She quit her job and called her two close friends pagers; telling them she had to leave the county to take care of a sick relative. 

Her whole life had just been erased in a day. 


	2. What are you planning?

       Kidnapped: What are you planning?!  

  I don't own Schwarz or Weib. I'd be a very happy girl if I did! I'd take good care of them too! I'd feed them, and water them, and play with them every night… I mean day…I mean…never mind.  

  She was in  her new room. It was the same room she had woken up in three days earlier.   

       She could hear the four strange young men moving around the apartment. The girl closed her eyes. It was just so odd,  days before she had lived alone , now she had four roommates.  72 hours ago she had been completely independent , now she was like a prisoner with privileges.     

          Once Sam had gotten  back inside the  guys home, Brad had given her some news that had lead her to throw a coffee mug at his head (which had unfortunately missed.)   

      All her money had  been transferred from her bank accounts  into a different one which she could only get into through Brad. All the money she earned as an Schwarz member would be put towards her part of the rent and into that bank account.  She didn't have a penny to her name. Brad had managed to make her completely reliant on him in one afternoon.     Besides that, she wasn't allowed to leave the apartment building unless one of the three sane members of Schwarz was with her.  Of coarse, Brad had assured her that all this was only temporary. Once they could trust that she wouldn't try to disappear, she would get her freedom and money back.  But Sam wasn't sure when exactly that day would be. Most likely not for at least a year, considering how much faith Brad seemed to have in her.  

         She had figured out pretty quickly that Brad was the leader behind this group. Everything had to go through the clairvoyant before anything major could happen. He did all the planning and also seemed to do a lot of the more domestic work, like paying bills, scheduling, and such other things.     Schuldig seemed to be a sort of second in command, he seemed to be the only one who could cross Brad and not get in humongous trouble for it. He also seemed to know what was going on, what Brad was planning. Probably because he was a telepath and could read it right out of Brad, but she had a feeling that Brad sort of allowed him to know. There was some sort of unspoken understanding between those two.      After Schuldig came Nagi in the spectrum of power. He seemed to be like a information officer , after only a couple of days she noticed that he didn't do much field work, it was mostly just figuring and finding of information.  He also seemed to like to keep to himself .        

        Lastly came Farfarello. He did a lot of the muscle work and was normally even more withdrawn from the group then Nagi . She had an idea that he had probably been the one restraining her while she was being  kidnapped.   

             Sam turned over and lay more on her side. She had been in this room for three days now. All her stuff had been put away and arranged , and now she just lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. The only times she had come out of her room was for use of the rest room or to get something to eat.  The only reason she knew what she knew about the four guys was because of the fleeting glimpse she got of them when moving about the house.  

       None of  the guys had bothered her during those three days , they obviously didn't expect her to participate in whatever the hell it was they spent their time doing when they left in the middle of the night . Why they had been  so interested in kidnapping her, she had no idea.___________________________________________________________________________           

  Brad rubbed the bridge of his nose and looked down at the paperwork in front of him. He was tired, he'd been working all day . But this needed to get done.  

      Skimming over the figures , Brad wrote down a number then suddenly looked up at the door . 

     "Come in."  He said, his voice monotone. The door opened a second later and Schuldig walked in.  Brad stared at him for a second then looked down at his work.  

      "What?" He asked the redhead in an annoyed tone.  Schuldig leaned against the wall and said.

         "It's about our newest member."          

        "What about her?" Brad asked , seemingly unconcerned.    

        "She's been hiding in her room for the past four days. At this rate, she'll become more of a shut-in then Nagi and Farfarello put together." The telepath  said in a cool tone.     

         "Is her door locked?" Brad asked evenly, rifling through a pile of papers.    

         "Yeah." Schuldig said .         

         "Have Nagi unlock it and drag her out then." The clairvoyant said in a tone which suggested it was the most logical thing to do.       

Schuldig raised an eyebrow. 

      " And what, exactly do you suggest I do after I drag her out?"     

 Brad waved his hand around in the air .  

        "I don't know, take her somewhere or something. You're the manipulative one. Get her to warm up to you."         

       "Warm up to me?" Schuldig repeated as if it was an absurd idea.         

       "What's wrong with that?" Brad asked.        

      "Well if you haven't noticed, she hates us." Schuldig said calmly. 

      'Especially you and I ."      

Brad shrugged. 

       "It's your job to change that. You're responsible for her anyways."         

       "What do you mean responsible? You're putting me in charge of her or something?" Schuldig asked, sounding slightly annoyed .         

     "Basically, yes." Brad said, his voice reserved.  

      "I don't have time to deal with her and the others obviously can't do it. "     

The redhead was silent for a long moment. Then suddenly said perkily. 

       "Whatever you say Brad!" He saluted the older man then turned and walked out.        Brad looked up in surprise. 

      "What the hell dose that mean?! Schuldig! What are you planning?!" Brad yelled at the shut door.       

"Nothing!" Was heard through the wall.______________________________________

       Schuldig walked into the living room and looked at the clock. 7PM , it read.    The redhead then looked over at Nagi.        

       "Hey Nagi." He called . 

      The boy looked up from his laptop.        

         "We're going out, go find Farfarello and meet me by Sam's door. "      

The 15 year old gave him a questioning look but got up anyways. 

       Schuldig headed down the hall to Sam's room and knocked on the door.      

       "What?" Was the reply from within the room.        

        "We're going out ." He called.      

       "Good for you, make sure to get hit by a bus or something." Was her bored reply.       

       "You're coming with us." Schuldig called.      

       "Id rather not ." Sam responded.    By this time Nagi and Farfarello had walked up.   

       "Your decent right ?" Schuldig asked through the door, eyeing the two puzzled guys next to him.        There was a pause . 

       "Would it stop you if I wasn't ?"She asked.    

       "No." Schuldig said with a sly smile at the door.        

        "I'm decent ." Was the reluctant answer.       

       " Damn." Schuldig said. 

He then looked at Nagi.      

       "Open the door."

 Nagi nodded. He then twitched his fingers and the lock clicked .      Schuldig pushed the door open and entered the room.          Sam lay on her bed, a magazine open on the covers. She looked up  as the three guys stepped into the room.  A large pink bubble of gum grew from her lips and popped.        

       "Are you going to come with us willingly or do we have to drag you out?" Schuldig asked, a grin on his face.        

         "I'm not going with you." She said simply .      

         "Oh yes you are." The telepath said.  He walked over to the bed slowly.   Sam eyed him warily , scooting away  as he came closer.      

       "You can't make me." She said.  

       "Wanna bet?" He  said grinning. Using that lightning like speed of his, Schuldig reached out suddenly and caught her arms, yanking her off the bed.   Sam yelped as she was  pulled onto her feet .     Schuldig grinned at her widely .      

       "Don't worry , this will be fun."    The girl  glared at him and reclaimed her arms. 

       "Asshole." She muttered and walked out of the room._____________________________             

       Schuldig, for some reason, decided to take them to a night club.  Sam couldn't figure out why since three members of their party were officially still minors.      

       The group sat at a table listening to the music for a while in silence. After a while Schuldig disappeared somewhere and left the other three to talk. Which they did very little of until Sam finally blurted.         

          "I hope you two aren't very found of your red haired friend. I may just have to strangle him."       Nagi and Farfarello just stared at her the same way they might stare at a  bar stool that had  commented on their taste in pants.      

      Resting her chin on her hand , Sam glanced at the two guys next to her.  

      "Is it just me, or dose anyone else get an incredible urge to smack that stupid grin off his face?"       

 A ghost of a smile appeared on Nagi's  face .     

      "All the time." He said in a level tone.  Farfarello just nodded in agreement.          

       They sat for a while longer in silence. But now the air around them was quite a bit more comfortable.  Nagi finally spoke up.         
     "Miss Joan?"  

Sam looked at him. 

        "You can call me Sam." She said.   Nagi nodded.

        "Sam…what type of power do you have?"    

Sam gave him a slightly surprised look.     

      "Those other guys didn't tell you?" 

Nagi shook his head. 

     "They didn't bother."     

      "Huh. Well, it's nothing as useful or interesting as telekinesis." She said. Nagi went a little pink at this.     

        "All I can do is see other people with power. Like what type of power they have and how much." She said in a board tone.   Nagi seemed interested by this.

        "What is it like when you see a person with power? I mean how dose it register in your mind?" He asked curiously.      

Sam looked thoughtful for a moment. 

         "It's sort of a mixture of seeing and just knowing. I see an amount of color and I get a sort of description of their power."         

      "Description?" Farfarello spoke up.    

Sam was startled slightly to hear the insane man speak, but explained calmly. 

        "An example might be if I saw a  clairvoyant, I might think something like, she can see farther then us. Or if I saw a telepath it might come as, he can hear better then us. For some reason it never comes simply as clairvoyant or telepath." Sam shrugged as she said the last bit.   

       "Huh." Nagi said . "That's interesting." Sam nodded a little and took a sip of her drink.  

        Nagi and Sam continued to talk comfortable, Farfarello just listening. Soon an entire hour had gone by and Schuldig was still nowhere to be seen.                  

          "This place is getting on my nerves." Sam finally said, looking at the club around her. 

       "I'm leaving."     

 Nagi opened his mouth to protest.      

     "I don't care if Schuldig told us to stay here. This place is making my head hurt." She said, standing up.     

       "We're not supposed to let you go anyplace alone." Nagi said sternly.     

      "Well you two can come with me then." She said simply, putting on her coat.   

       "What about Schuldig?' The boy asked uncertainly.         

        "He's a big boy, he doesn't need us around. Besides he can't expect to just say 'sit , stay' and have us obey dose he? If he's going to be a jackass and just leave us in the middle of a club, he can worry about getting his ass whooped by Brad when he shows up at home without us."  Sam said, turning  towards the exit. Nagi and Farfarello exchanged a look then got up quickly and fallowed.     

          They left the club and made their way slowly down the sidewalk. 

      "Where are we going?" Farfarello asked.      

       "I suppose home considering we have no money.' Sam said.       

         "Well actually, I have money .' Nagi piped up.    

       "Well since you're the one with the money what do you want to do?' She asked Nagi.   

 Nagi took on a thoughtful look.  

         "Well…I've  always wanted to go ice skating." He said after a moment.        

      "What? You've never been ice skating?" Sam asked, surprise written all over her face.        

     "Our line of work doesn't give us much time for such things."  Nagi admitted, slightly embarrassed.      

        "Are you really willing to pay for us though?" Sam asked uncertainly. Nagi nodded eagerly.   

     "Well, let's go then." Sam brightened.________________________________________ 

       The small group found their way to a close by mall and headed for the ice ring.        

        "Come on Nagi, you'll never learn how if you don't try." The young woman coaxed. Sam stood on the ice facing  the boy, her hands planted on her hips. All the while, Nagi sat glued to the entrance of the ice ring. Farfarello stood waiting behind him.        

      "What if I fall?"  Nagi asked.       

       "Then you land on your butt. It's not that bad." Sam assured.     

       "Don't be a wuss Nagi ." Farfarello said, jumping up and over the guardrail to land lightly next to Sam.     

        "I'm not a wuss!" Nagi yelled defensively, standing up. Farfarello just grinned slyly at him. Nagi realized a second later what he had done. His legs immediately began to wobble underneath him. Seeing this, Sam moved forward quickly and grabbed his arms.     

       "See, that wasn't hard." The girl said encouragingly, guiding the boy slowly away from the guardrail.            

       "I suppose." The boy said in an unsure tone.          

       Nagi and Sam made their way slowly across the ice, Sam instructing Nagi as they went.        Meanwhile, Farfarello skated  around them, every once in a while zooming off across the ice in hocky player style, only to return and skate around the two in a tight circle. This, causing poor Nagi to loose his balance and fall over repeatedly.       

     "Hey you! Quit it before I come out there and slap you around!" Sam yelled as the young man flew past them. Farfarello let himself glide for a moment then did a small turn and skated quickly back to them. Coming to a quick halt, he grabbed Sam's hands, and pulled her off across the ice.  

      "Sorry to correct, but I wouldn't  feel it even if you could catch me." He said, his voice monotone but his mouth smiling .   

        "I wasn't being literal." Sam said, trying to keep from falling over.      

     Nagi sat on the ice a ways away, his eyes large.  

     "This could be bad." He said quietly and stood up quickly.       

        "What are we doing exactly?" Sam asked Farfarello as he continued to pull her quickly around the ice.     

      "Teaching little Naoe how to skate." He answered and gestured behind them. Sure enough, Nagi was skating quickly towards them. His fears forgotten in an effort to keep Farfarello from doing something he'd get in trouble for.       

     "Oh, I see." Sam said, slightly impressed with both the young men. She turned back to Farfarello. 

      "Could we stop now ?" She asked, her legs feeling slightly tired out from trying to keep up. 

Farfarello pouted mockingly. 

      "I suppose." He said and began to slow their pace . 

     Nagi finally caught up to the two as they came to a halt, but unfortunately he didn't know how to stop.  Sliding past them, he flailed franticly and landed on his face.  

 ___ "Uh, how about we take a break." Sam said, flinching sympathetically.______________________

       Schuldig made his way slowly across the club towards the table he'd left his three pipsqueak teammates . He'd been gone for about three hours, that should be enough time. 

      He expected that  they'd be pissed with him. He expected them to yell at him. He expected them to bug Brad till he decided to find another babysitter for little sammykins. But what he didn't expect, was to find the table void of teammates. 

      "What! Were the hell did they go!" Schuldig wondered aloud and annoyed.  

      The redhead scanned the club with jade eyes and sharp mind, but couldn't find them anywhere. 

    (Shit!) He thought, gulped down the remainder of his drink, and headed for the door.___________    

    Brad  stretched slightly, finally having pulled his nose out of the paperwork strewn about his desk.  

        Yawning, he looked down at his watch. 11:00, the others still weren't back yet. 

      (Where is that  telepath?! If he knows what's good for him he'll get back here soon!) Brad thought, throwing annoyed looks at his watch, as if it was somehow responsible for his teammates lateness. 

      After taking a sip of his long cold coffee, the clairvoyant turned back to the work in front of him. 

     Half an hour had past before Brad finally became conscious  of something beyond his work. 

     Looking up, he stared at his door for a second, then pulled himself out of his chair, heading out the door and down the hall. 

     Leaning against the wall, he waited.

       The door opened suddenly and three people surged through into the hall. Brad did a double check , then asked in a flat tone . 

    "Where's Schuldig?"

     "He was abducted by flesh eating aliens." Sam said coolly as she walked past him. Farfarello fallowing her down the hall towards his "room." Brad ignored her and looked at Nagi.  

Nagi shrugged as he walked by.                 

       "He left us in a club for three hours and never came back, so we came back here." The youth said succinctly. 

Brad raised an eyebrow at the boys retreating figure. He wasn't sure he was getting the whole truth from the brunet, but decided to let it go._____________________________________________________

       Schuldig dug in his pocket , searching in vain for his keys. 

       "Damn it! Where the hell are they?" The redhead mumbled in a pissed tone. 

He hadn't  been able to find the others anywhere, it was one in the morning now, and the telepath was thoroughly drunk.  

        He searched for a moment longer before finally realizing his keys were in his other hand. Cursing, the redhead moved to unlock the door. 

       Now Schuldig's reflexes were pretty quick, but being drunk tended to slow him down. So when the front door was wrenched open with a shuddering crash, and a very pissed looking Brad grabbed him by the collar. He wasn't fast enough to avoid being slammed up against a wall, or having the air choked out of him.

      "**What the fuck is your problem!?**"Schuldig managed to gasp, squirming uncomfortably in the older mans hold.

      "**My problem?!**"Brad roared, squeezing the telepaths neck slightly. 

     "I'm not the one who left his underage teammates alone in a club for three hours! One of whom, may I remind you, is basically under house arrest!" 

      "So what! They're obviously fine, considering what you know about our evening!" Schuldig growled, attempting to break free of the clairvoyants grip. He was now feeling quite a bit more sober.

       "Yes, but if something had happened, Nagi would have been the only one qualified to take care of it. He can't watch an insane man along with a young woman that might attempt to bolt." 

Brads voice had gone low and dangerous. 

      "And let me tell you now my dear friend, if this was an attempt to make me change my mind about your role as Sam's supervisor, it doesn't alter anything. In fact, her actions will reflect on you now. If she messes up, it's your neck." As if to emphasize this Brad squeezed  Schuldig's throat hard. The redhead fought desperately as it became nearly impossible to draw breath. Suddenly, the American let go of his teammate. Leaving him free to collapse to the ground and wheeze. 

   Brad stared at the younger man for a second then turned towards his room.  

       "Go to bed Schuldig, we have a busy day tomorrow, and you can't  play the hangover card this time." His voice was calm as he disappeared through the door.  

         Schuldig glared at the closing door and stood up. 

        "Damn him." He muttered , rubbing his bruised neck.__________________________   


	3. What's so freaking funny?

    Wow, another chapter! I Never thought Id finish this one. You know that feeling of  having so many ideas but not enough room to put them all down ? Well, that had me stuck for a while, I wonder if that's considered writers block?     

     And for the lawyers out there. The Weib Kreuz  guys don't belong to me, they belong to all their original owners. If they did belong to me do you think Id be writing fanfictions?   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 "There he is!" The little girl said to no one in particular, spotting the form of her friend through the darkness. He lay motionless in the grass, making it hard to find him as night closed in around them.

         "What is he doing now?" She wondered to herself, setting off across the field at a trot .  

          Reaching the boy, she stared down at his frail little figure, noting his closed eyes, and measured breathing. 

         (He's doing something important, I better let him finish.) The little girl sat down carefully next to the small boy, making sure not to bother him with  noise. 

Folding her legs underneath her the girl did her best not to fidget as children tend to do.

       After a while of  intense concentration on the caterpillar that was crawling over her knee she looked up at her friend. He was almost done, she could tell. The girl leaned forward, watching his closed eyes with her large eager ones.  

       The little boys eyes opened suddenly, taking in the dark sky for a long moment before turning to the inquisitive little girl next to him. 

        "Whach ya doin?" She asked him happily.   

The boy gave her a patient look. 

         "Listening." He said quietly.

          "To what?" The girl asked, perking up to look around the empty field like a wary rabbit. 

         "To the sky." The small boy said, smiling slowly at the way she sat, straining to hear with her imaginary rabbit ears. 

 The little girl looked down at him with huge, excited eyes. 

        "What is it saying?" She asked curiously.

         "It says it will rain soon." He answered in a bored tone.

  The girl pouted, that wasn't interesting.

          "What else does it say? She asked, knowing her friend had heard more interesting things then that.  

           The little boy gave her an amused look and turned his eyes to the stars above them. 

           "It says that a new star is being born." 

  The girl lit up and looked up at the sky too. 

               "Where, can we see it, does it have a name?" 

    The boy pointed at the sky to a cluster of stars to their right. 

              "It's billions of miles beyond those stars, so we can't see it yet, its light wont reach us for a while."

               The girl pouted and stared at the spot in the sky as if she could bring the light of the star into being with will alone.

               "As for its name, it doesn't have one, at least not in a sense that we'd understand." The little boy said calmly, watching his friend stare up at the stars. 

  The girl turned her gaze on him with an expression that said "I don't know what you mean by that." The boy hadn't actually expected her to get it. 

  He simplified.

                  "It hasn't been named by a human." 

   The little girl looked excited by this. 

                   "Could we name it?" 

                     "I suppose we could." The boy said , staring at the sky again. 

                      "What do you want to call it?" He asked her. The little girl became thoughtful, taping her chin as she looked at the sky. Suddenly she clapped her hands together gleefully. 

                      "We'll call it Sparky!!" She declared.

                The boys serene front broke as he heard this and he tumbled back into the grass laughing . 

                 The little girl drew herself up, a very dignified look on her small face.

                  "What's wrong with Sparky?"

                   "Nothing, nothing at all!" The small boy said supportively, forcing the laughter away as he noted his friends offended expression.

               "Then what where you laughing at ?" She asked, pouting slightly.

                "Its just a very different name for a star." He said carefully, smiling at her slightly. 

                "So you like Sparky?" She asked, perking up slightly.

                 "I like Sparky." He said, propping himself up in the grass. 

                  "Good!!" She said happily. 

                  Standing up, she pointed randomly up at the stars.

                  "Your name is Sparky!!!" She squealed, and spun around in a circle. While the little boy just lay in the grass, smiling at his young friend.    

___________________________________________________________________________

    Sam woke to find Nagi shaking her shoulder. 

      Yawning, she blinked a few times and looked around the room. Farfarello had gotten into her  gum and was in the middle of  blow an expansive pink bubble to the right of her bed.         

     She laughed and said sleepily. 

      "You know, you shouldn't get used to just coming into a girls room like this, some  girls would have a conniption." 

 Nagi smiled sheepishly at her. 

       "I know, but Brad wanted me to wake you up. We have somewhere to go today." 

Sam pushed the stray hair out of her face and sat up. 

     "Where are we going?" She asked curiously. 

Nagi shrugged.

          "No idea."________________________________________________

       After kicking the two young men out of her room, Sam got dressed and headed down the hall to the kitchen. 

     There, she found Brad leaning against a counter while reading the morning paper with a cup of coffee in one hand. Nagi munching a piece of toast at the table. Farfie was sitting backwards in a chair,  occupied with his bubble gum. And Schuldig was staring at the table top in front of him with a look of utter contempt. 

    Sam took a seat next to Nagi and did her best not to look at Schuldig, if she did, she knew she'd start laughing.

      She had to admit, even though she hated his guts, it was actually a good that the redhead had abandoned her and the others in the nightclub. Nagi and her had become fast friends, and he was the only reason Sam would come anywhere near the rest of the group willingly. Farfarello she didn't mind much either, but he was still a little scary.  

     Schuldig seemed to be able to hear her laughter, even if it wasn't out loud. 

Out of the corner of her eye Sam saw the telepaths face tilt towards her slightly. She buried her mouth in the heal of her hand, trying to hide a grin as it crept  across her face. 

      (What's so freaking funny?) Came an annoyed  voice in her head. 

   (Oh, nothing.) Sam answered, staring at him innocently. 

    (So, how was your night? You seem a little stressed this morning.) She continued sweetly, aware of the daggers the redhead was shooting at her with his eyes. 

               Brad seemed to know something was passing between the two teammates, Sam could see him folding the paper and setting down his coffee cup. The clairvoyants eyes were glued to them in obvious warning. 

    Schuldig glanced at Brad, then grinned at Sam coldly. 

     (My night? Oh, it was just peachy.) His tone suggested differently, but Schuldig left the conversation at that, instead turning his attention back to the table top.

      Breakfast ended with Brad  checking his watch and announcing that  if they left now they'd just miss the car accident about to happen on main street. So the group was hurried into the car, and with Brad driving, made there way to an unknown destination.________________________________________________________________

       The group arrived at a large building which Sam recognized as the office of the Chief Justice. After traveling up several floors and rounding a good many corners the group ended up in a waiting room.  

       Schuldig sat on Sam's right, slumped in his seat, fast asleep. Nagi sat on her left , reading a really old magazine. And Farfarello sat next to Schuldig, staring at the opposite wall like a statue. Brad was currently in a meeting with the Chief Justice, as he had been for the past half hour. 

      Sam sighed quietly to herself and looked at the clock on the wall, silently wondering if one could actually die of boredom. Suddenly a pressure on her right side made her jump. She turned slightly and blinked in surprise, Schuldig was sleeping peacefully against her. The lack of armrests on the chairs leaving the redhead free to rest heavily on her shoulder. 

     Now her first instinct was to push the telepath off and jolt him awake. But her boredom with the dull white walls and uninspiring pictures on them, pushed her mind to think deeply about any small occurrence that went on in the office.  

      (If I wake the idiot up he's just going to growl and glare at me for the rest of the time we sit here.)  Sam stared down at the young mans angelic face. 

       (He's a lot easier to deal with when he's asleep, and I suppose its half my fault  he's this tired anyways.) She rolled her eyes and looked at the ceiling. 

        (I guess I'll let him sleep as long as he doesn't start snoring or drooling.) Sam then gave him a wicked smile.

        (If he dose, I'll push him off his seat.) 

        Brads meeting came to an end as he and the Chief Justice entered the waiting room to exchange pleasantries. 

       "Well I'm certainly sorry we couldn't come to an agreement." The Chief Justice said in a friendly yet regretful tone, extending his hand. Brad smiled slightly and pushed his slipping glasses back up the bridge of his nose. 

"Yes, it is a shame." He said, shaking the mans hand . 

     Once the other man had gone, Brad  moved over  to where his teammates sat.

      "Come on guys." He said, turning towards the door. The clairvoyants eyes then paused on Sam and Schuldig, eyebrow raised. 

    "Comfy Miss Joan?" He asked with a small, half smirk. 

Sam gave him a sour look.

     "Yeah, I'm just snug as a bug, thanks."  Brad just continued to smirk as he headed towards the door.

    Sam turned her gaze on the sleeping man. It was a shame to wake him up, he was almost tolerable this way.     

     "Up and atom, Schuldig." She gave the redhead a  shove with her shoulder. 

      The telepath was jolted back into the waking world a moment late. Looking at the young woman next to him, he wondered vaguely whether he should be pissed off or not.      

       Sam rolled her eyes at the confused look on the mans face .    

       "Its time to go, you've been sleeping for almost an hour." She said, trying to be patient.  

        Schuldig's  tired mind began to sort out and put down the scattered puzzle pieces that were the past few hours. 

        "Oh." He said, the disorientated look fading away. The young man then realized he'd been using her shoulder as a pillow for some part of that hour. 

         "Why didn't you wake me up when I leaned on you?" He asked curiously. 

          "I'd rather put up with you sleeping on my shoulder then awake, bugging me." Sam said simply, standing and fallowing the three retreating figures in the hall._____________________________________________________

      The group found themselves back in the car and again driving to some location only Brad and Schuldig knew about. 

       The second place they stopped was a lot more interesting then the first. It was a large park, filled with children, flowers, Frisbee catching dogs, and happy people. Which basically meant the Schwarz guys stuck out like a sore thumb. 

      "We're stopping here?" Sam asked. Brad turned around and looked at her.

       "Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

 Sam shook her head and looked out the car window towards the peaceful scene. 

        "No, its just, you four at a park?  Looks about as normal as wolves in a rabbit pen to me." 

        "The girls got a good point, Brad." Schuldig said with a grin. He was feeling better after his nap.  

         The clairvoyant became thoughtful. 

         "Yes, I suppose it would be best to blend in." He admitted. 

          "Nagi, Farfarello, you two stay in the car." Brad said in a business like tone, undoing his suit jacket.  

         Sam stepped out of the car and found Schuldig next to her almost instantly. She blinked in surprise.

        "Can't have our favorite new member disappearing, can we?" He said, reading her expression. 

       "No wouldn't want that happening." Sam said sarcastically, staring at the park around them. 

        "I'm glad you agree." He said. 

        (When did you become interested in where I went, Schuldig? I think I remember you leaving me in a club yesterday. I could have disappeared  then too.) She thought.

        (I became interested when Brad so convincingly told me to be.) He thought back simply. Sam then felt the mans hand snake around her waist and pull her close to his side, leaving them looking like a happy couple on a walk. 

Sam  made sure the redhead saw the repulsed look on her face, expressing exactly how she felt about having his hands on her.  

        Schuldig just smirked down at her. 

        (That's not the look you were giving me when I woke up on your shoulder, I believe we were about this close then too.) 

       (Yes well, you weren't mauling me then.) She thought with an annoyed look at the hand on her waist. 

       Schuldig chuckled. 

      (I have to hold on to you somehow, and dragging you through the park by the arm might look a tad suspicious.) 

       (You could just hold my hand.) She thought in a disgruntled tone.

        (But that would be so much less fun!) He thought back, grinning at her widely. 

           Brad pulled himself out of the car, now looking strangely casual with his suit jacket and tie off. He glanced at the couple impersonating teammates with approval,  then set off down the paved path.  

         The trio walked  past large stretches of grass, wooded areas, and a playground before finally finding their destination. All the while, Schuldig led Sam around by the waist, and Sam repeatedly elbowed Schuldig in the stomach. 

       The groups destination was a large,  paved, circle in the center of the park. There, a great fountain sat placed in the middle of the circle, and lining the fringes of the outer concrete were many evenly spaced park benches. Brad, Sam, and Schuldig took a seat at one of these benches.

      Sam ripped her waist free of the redheads grip and moved away till she sat as far away as possible from him, but not too close to Brad either, who sat on the other side of her. 

     "What are we doing here?" Sam asked the clairvoyant. 

       "We, are waiting for a person that might have power of interest to us."  Brad said quietly, looking at his watch.

       "And you want me to confirm this for you?" The young woman asked, already aware of the answer. 

        "Yes." Brad said simply. 

        A feeling of foreboding washed over her. What would happen to this person if they did have power? Would they kidnap them? Worse? The decision whether or not this person lived, might have just been set in her lap.

      "Don't bother lying to us girl, it wont work, so being honest is in your best interest." Schuldig said, his smile suddenly going cruel. Sam eyed him and did her best not to look intimidated. 

        "There he is," Brad said calmly. "The one with the gray coat." He added.  

Sam followed the clairvoyants gaze and was shocked at who she saw. A kindly old man sat on a bench across from them, feeding a small group of pigeons. He had on a long gray coat and was the only person Brad could have been pointing to.

      "You can't be serious!!!!" Sam shouted, jumping up off the seat. Brads face snapped towards her, his eyes flashing. 

       "I am serious, now sit down." He said in a cold tone. 

        "But he's just an old man!! He couldn't have done anything to you!!" She yelled, taking an involuntary step away from the bench. 

Brad now looked really pissed off.

         "Quit yelling, you little idiot." He hissed. 

Sam just glared and took another step back. 

        Schuldig  stood up and grabbed her hand calmly, pulling her slowly yet forcefully back down onto the bench.  

       "His life means nothing to you, you know. He's just some guy, some insignificant speck. What he's done to deserve his fate isn't important." The telepath purred lazily against her ear. He'd sat her down so she was looking at the man across the street. His hand still holding hers, squeezing it till it was on the verge of being uncomfortable.  

        "Now tell us what you know." Schuldig finished coolly.  

        Sam knew that telepaths could be more then just persuasive if they wanted to. She could feel his words cutting her will off at that moment. 

         She stared at the old man, attempting to get rid of the vagueness covering her thoughts. But it wasn't working, she could feel herself concentrating on him. Her mouth opened almost on its own accords.

        "He has power." She said reluctantly.  

Brad was smirking at her. 

        "What kind?" He asked.  

Sam stared at the ground, feeling vacant .

          "Telekinetik."_______________________________________________________ 

     Sam closed her eyes, willing the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach to go away. But it wouldn't leave her alone. Every time she thought it was finally fading, she'd remember that innocent old man in the park. Obliviously feeding his pigeons, unaware of the people that could be out to hurt him. Sam turned onto her stomach and buried her face in the pillow, forcing down  the tears that threatened to fall from her cloudy, gray eyes. 

       "It'll be my fault if he dies." She whispered. 

       Suddenly she heard a knock on the door. 

        "Go away." She managed to yell through the fabric of the pillow. 

Through the door she could here a muffled conversation taking place. Then the lock on her door clicked. 

        (Damn it, why do they even have a lock on that door?) Sam wondered, refusing to look up from the pillow. 

         "Cause we thought you'd like some privacy." Said a familiar voice as the door swung open. 

          Sam tilted her head sideways to glare at the smirking redhead in the doorway. Behind him she could see a nervous looking Nagi staring at her apologetically. 

          "Leave me alone." She said, turning back to her pillow. 

There was silence for a moment, then the sound of the door shutting. Sam raised her head in disbelief. Schuldig was still there but Nagi had been left on the other side. 

         "There, now we're alone." Schuldig said with a lopsided grin. 

           "I meant **you **leave me alone." She growled.

Schuldig shrugged. 

            "Too late now, doors already shut."

  Sam grabbed the nearest object and hurled it at him hard. Being her pillow Schuldig simply caught it and used it as a back rest as he plunked down on the bed next to her.

         "Now what has you in such a unsocial mood?" He asked casually, brushing some of the hair out of his eyes.  

  Sam turned over and faced the opposite wall, then said in an annoyed tone.

            "I wouldn't bother wasting my precious breath on you, even if I thought you didn't already know."

The telepath chuckled . 

            "Harsh words little one. I'm just trying to help." 

             "Sure you are." Sam said sarcastically.          

         "Of course I am. So why are you still upset over that old man?" He asked. 

          "Still? You made me tell you just this morning." She said quietly. 

           "Yeah, and that's a long time to be worrying about someone you don't even know." He said lazily, moving around slightly to get more comfortable. 

           "Maybe it is to a slime ball  like you." Sam said coldly. 

          "Ow, hurtful today aren't we." The redhead commented, completely unruffled. 

           "Anyways if you'd known some of the old people I've known, you wouldn't assume him so innocent." He finished, putting his hands behind his head. 

            "Is he innocent?" Sam asked. Almost hoping for a no. 

             "Yes" Schuldig said simply. 

The two then became silent for a long moment. 

           "Your going to kill him, aren't you?" Sam finally asked hopelessly. 

             "Most likely, it's not really up to me though." He said calmly. "But it's nothing to get upset about, he's old, he's had a long life, its not like we're taking much away from him."

   Sam lay silently for a long moment thinking about this. It didn't make her feel better.       

              "Why kill him?" She asked finally, puzzled as to how this old man could be a problem to them.

             "It's complicated, besides I can't go giving you all the answers, then you'd have nothing to wonder about." Schuldig said secretively.  

Sam turned over and gave the redhead a glare. 

            "Why did you even come in here?" She asked, switching topics abruptly.

           "To make you feel better, obviously." The telepath grinned. 

Sam just stared. 

            "Its  not  working."

             "Hmm, too bad." Schuldig said, brushing his unruly hair out of his eyes again. He then levered himself up off the bed and headed for the door. "Whether or not you like it, we're going to keep making you do this, so I suggest you find a way to get used to it." He remarked callously, flashing her with that annoying grin before disappearing out the door. 

             Sam reclaimed her pillow and collapsed back into it. 

              "Asshole." She muttered into the fabric._________________________________________________ 

 I apologize for my lousy paragraphing job, my teachers didn't teach me much about them. Or I was sleeping when they tried. 

I know this is the first time I've mentioned Sam's eye color, strangely enough I actually forgot to earlier.   


	4. Maiden

Yippy!!! I'm so happy!! I finally finished this blasted chapter!!!(Bounces up and down like an idiot.) 

I want to thank all the wonderful peoples out there who have reviewed so far. It's really appreciated!!   

I'd love to say I own  Schwarz and Weib, but unfortunately I can't, cuz I don't. Damn, life's just not fair, is it?    

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        The glow of the TV gave the dark room a dull, cold look., which matched Sam's current mood perfectly. 

          The four guys had gone out somewhere at about 8:00 that night, leaving Sam with a set of rules that most would have given to a small child. No ordering out, leaving the apartment, answering the door, talking to the neighbors, going into their rooms, getting on the computer, calling anyone, spilling anything on the carpet, or banging about. But the last one  was only because it annoyed the old women who lived below them. Sam had been warned that if any these rules were violated, they'd know. How they'd know Sam had no idea, but she didn't particularly feel like pissing Brad off. Which she was getting quite good at these days, so the girl had opted silently to be good.

           The young women gave the TV a sullen look  and popped a couple of kernels of popcorn into her mouth. Her body lay sprawled out across the entire length of the couch. 

  As long as the four guys were gone she intended to take advantage of the situation.

  Even though she now had a friend on the other side, Sam had been hiding out in her room for the past two weeks, ever since the little outing in the park. She needed a change of scenery. 

         Sam had started her evening by exploring the apartment. Though she'd been here about three weeks now ,she'd spent the majority of it in her room, rarely if ever hanging around outside her own door longer then needed.  

       The apartment was actually quite large, quite expensive, and quite clean for a house full of guys. She supposed the cleanliness of the place was Brads doing, the young woman had a feeling the others probably didn't give a rats ass what the apartment looked like.  

        Everything in the apartment was pricey looking. The entertainment  system was expensive, the furniture was all black Italian leather, and the coffee table was glass. She wondered as she examined, how they managed to keep Farfarello from tearing this stuff up with those knifes he was so fond of.    

          The kitchen had always looked a little off to Sam, but she hadn't really tried to figure out why. She realized now it was because nothing was used besides the toaster, microwave and coffee pot. The stove and oven looked as if they had rarely been touched. While the counters had never experienced scuffs, stains, or grease, and the blender was gathering dust. The Schwarz guys obviously didn't care for cooking. 

               Next she looked around to see what kinds of food they did have. Sam had basically been living off  boxes of leftover Chinese's food and pizza for the past three weeks. What she found wasn't encouraging. Bread, lucky charms,  popcorn, and coffee were all that was in the cupboards. Peanut butter, jelly, more leftover take out food, something green that might have once been a fruit or maybe cheese, half a jug of milk, and beer made up the contents of the refrigerator. Sam had to admit she didn't cook a lot either, but this was ridiculous. How did they keep from getting fat if all they ate was sweat-and-sour chicken and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? 

         After that the girl had made herself some popcorn and stretched out on the couch. 

Then the calls had started, some very persistent person or people could not accept the fact that no one was home to answer to phone. Sam now glanced at the phone as it began to ring again, a thought had crossed her mind. Brad had said she was not aloud to call anyone, he had never said she couldn't answer the phone. Awe the joy of loopholes. 

        Getting off the couch she found a pad of paper and a pen and picked up the phone.

        "Hello, this is the residence of Brad Crawford  how can I help you today?"________

        Nagi yawned widely as he entered the apartment. The Schwarz guys had been stuck fighting those Weib losers for an hour after leaving the Chief Justices home. Somehow those kitties had figured out their plan, but to the Schwarz luck, not in enough time to stop them.

        Now it was 1:00 in the morning and Nagi had actually planned to show up at school that morning. 

        (Aw well, maybe I'll go tomorrow. Its not like I need it anyways.) He thought as he strolled into the living room. 

        School was really just a cover to keep nosey people from calling social workers. Nagi was actually pretty close to being a kid genius. If the schools had it their way, he'd be three years above his current grade, but Brad had told the school to leave him where he was. Meaning Nagi could miss a week of school and still have higher grades then the rest of his classmates. 

          The boy noted the glowing TV and leaned over the back of the couch, there he found Sam, curled up in a ball sleeping. He smiled at his new friend, amused at finding her in the living room and the abnormal peace and calm that adorned her face. 

          He felt the presence of his three older teammates as they came into the room.  Following his example, they peered curiously over the back of the couch. 

          "Holy crap, she's in the living room!" Schuldig said, eyeing her incredulously.

           "Sssshhhh!!" Said the other three, giving him a look that said. "You'll wake her up you idiot!!"  The redhead threw up his hands in submission, giving his group a weird look. 

          "Do you think we should move her?" Nagi asked Brad in a whisper.  

Brad shook his head.

          "No, just get her a blanket and pull the coffee table out a bit more." He whispered back. 

         Meanwhile Schuldig had moved to the other side of the couch and was now munching on the half eaten popcorn and staring at the two whispering men with a look that said. "Why are you fussing over her?"

             Nagi went after the blanket and as he spread it over Sam's still form was hit by a  thought. 

              "You know, we haven't given her a codename. Do we intend to?" He asked quietly as he watched Brad and Farfarello move the large heavy coffee table farther away from the couch. 

         Once the table was in place Brad turned to look at the sleeping girl. Pushing his glasses farther up his nose he said quietly.

       "It would be best if we did, she will be coming with us sometimes."

        "But what name describes her power?" Schuldig wondered in a whisper. 

  The four men looked at the young women, each searching for a name.   

           They stayed that way for a good three minutes before someone finally spoke.

            "Maiden." Farfarello said quietly. 

             "Huh?" The other three said collectively, staring at the insane man. 

             "Maidens were used by hunters to lure unicorns into capture, they couldn't be caught any other way. The unicorn would come to the young maiden and lay its head in her lap, then she'd slip a golden harness over its head and it wouldn't be able to struggle. The hunters would then kill or capture it." Farfarello said calmly, as if he was reading from a book. 

          The other three men stared silently at Farfarello, it was unusual for the man to say so much at one time, and it was especially unusual for him to sound sane while saying it. 

  But they had to admit it was a good idea. 

          "Probably the most accurate name out there." Brad said in a whisper. 

           "Fine with me." Schuldig added. 

            "I like it." Nagi said in a pleased tone.

           So Maiden was left to sleep on couch that night, unaware of the decision made over her as well as about her. 

____________________________________________________________________________________________

          The bright light of the morning sun shone in through the windows and attacked Sam's closed eyes, making her squint as she floated away from sleep. Rolling onto her stomach the young women buried her face in her arms, attempting to rescue her lost dreams before it was to late. But the sun had already claimed her victim, and sliding back into sleep was impossible. 

       Sam opened her eyes, letting the world come back into focus. But when it did she realized something was amiss. Rolling onto her back she remembered what it was. She had fallen asleep on the couch and was still there. 

        Sitting up, the girl combed some of the stray blue hair out of her eyes,then looked around. The house was dark and quite, everyone was still asleep. 

          Crawling off the couch and standing, she noted the  blanket that had tumbled away from her in slight surprise. The fact that someone had bothered to put one over her was oddly thoughtful for this household. 

      With a yawn she left the living room and entered her own. There, she gathered up some bath supplies and headed for the bathroom. As long as she had the time to herself she was going to take a shower then make herself something nice to eat. Those four would wake up at some point and want the bathroom, and then they'd swarm the kitchen. It would be best if she was back in her room by then._______________________________________________________________________ 

          Sam leaned quietly against the cupboards, waiting for the coffee maker to finish. The apartment around her was so calm and light; giant pools of sunshine gathering on the floor from the now open curtains. If she wasn't already aware, she'd never guess this home was occupied by such ruthless people. 

        Her quite surroundings were perfect for reflecting, so it wasn't surprising when her mind began replaying the events of the past few weeks.

        It seemed like she'd been here for much longer then three weeks. But that was because she'd spent so many boring hours in that room. Why did she lock herself in there so often anyways? Was she really so afraid of those men? She didn't feel scared anymore. Brad was a bit intimidating, but not that bad. Schuldig was an annoying jackass and he'd sorta threatened her once, but she doubted he was going to do anything to her. Farfarello was strange, but he hadn't done anything to hurt her. And actually, she really liked Nagi.     

        Could she be trying to piss them off then? If she was, it was a total waste of time. They just unlocked the door and hauled her out if they needed her. They probably didn't care if she spent the rest of her life in that room.

         Sam knew what part of the reason was, if she came out from behind that door it meant facing the fact that she was one of them. She was helping them hurt people, not by choice, but she still helped. She'd condemned that old man. At that thought, Sam swallowed a small lump in her throat. 

 But hiding in that room wasn't going to make it better, she couldn't change the fact that she'd been forced to give him to them. And hiding wasn't going to stop them, they could easily force her to do it again. What would she do then? Go back and hide in her room for another two weeks? That wasn't much of a life. 

       Besides the longer she hid away from the four men, the easier it would be for Brad and Schuldig to treat her like a prisoner and a child. She needed to stop acting like a victim, those two fed off that sort of behavior.  

      Sam looked up from were she'd been staring at the floor for the past few minutes.  

      The only way she was going to regain her life was to accept what she was, and be a member of the group. Staring at the walls of that room wasn't  going to get her anywhere.

        Sam picked up her coffee cup and filled it. Staring at the liquid thoughtfully, she  took a few sips, letting the hot fluid scald her throat. The young woman then stared towards the front door.     

          "I think, it's about time I started braking rules." She said to herself .__________________________________   

           Leaving the apartment quietly, Sam headed down the long hall. Being a very expensive building made for people that made enough money to, but didn't want a house,  the apartments were all spread out quite extensively. This giving each resident a lot of privacy compared to normal apartment buildings . Sam could imagine there was not a lot of neighborly chat going on between the people in this building. The Schwarz guys probably liked it that way.  

        Coming to the nearest door, she knocked loudly. After a minute of waiting, a middle aged women answered the door. She looked like a business women, maybe a lawyer, her appearance was very smart and well kept. 

      Sam smiled. 

       "I'm sorry to bother you, my names Sam. I 'm one of your neighbors, I  moved in down the hall not long ago."

The women gave her a friendly smile in return. 

        "Ah yes, you live with those four men at the other end of the hall don't you? I saw you the day your stuff was being moved in. Living around so many guys, must be a pain in the but, huh? "

Sam nodded happily. It was nice to talk to someone other then those guys, she hadn't realized how long it had been since she'd  really talked to another women. 

        "Yeah, you have no idea. They also happen to eat nothing but junk, and a lot of it at that. I was wondering if  I could barrow some breakfast supplies? I'll pay for or replace them this afternoon after I go shopping." She said. 

         "Of course, I have three older brothers, their pigs too. My names Yuiri  by the way. Come on in and we'll see what we can find. " Invited the women. 

         So Sam was brought into the women's kitchen where they decided waffles, eggs and bacon would make a good breakfast. Sam then got a surprise when Yuiri insisted that Sam take the whole box of waffles, bacon, and eggs, as well as the whole bottle of syrup. 

        "Oh, I really don't need that much, I don't want to steal all your food from you." Sam said.

        "It's all right, I really don't even eat much of that stuff anyways, I don't know why I even bother to buy the waffles and syrup. I have no time to eat it anyways. Don't bother to replace those, just the eggs and bacon. Anyways if I know men, those four will wake up while your making it and what some too." The women said with a little wave of her hand.

          "You're probably right." Sam admitted. "Thank you so much for the food. I apologize for imposing on you so much, asking for breakfast is much more then asking for a cup of sugar." 

            "It's all right, I understand." The women assured.

            Sam headed back to the apartment and started breakfast for herself. 

             She was putting  the bacon in the pan when Nagi wandered into the room. She could see him give her a curious look from the corner of her eye. He then came around the counter towards her, and looked over the boxes on the counter top. 

           "Where did all this come from?" He asked in a bewildered tone. 

           "The women down the hall sorta lent it to me." She said. 

Nagi looked at her, then at the food, a worried look on his face.

             "Brads not going to be happy with you Sam." He stated in slightly nervous tone. 

              " It's alright Nagi, I need to get a few things straight with him anyways, I  can't let him treat me like a small child all the time." She said seriously, then  turned and  smiled.

             "Do you want some breakfast?"

  Nagi's worried look turned to a grin at the thought of food. 

              "Sure!" He said. 

              "Ok." She beamed,  then thought of something. "Do you think Farfarello would want some too?"

 Nagi looked thoughtful for a second. 

               "I'm not sure, I'll go ask." With that he went back down the hall towards the only metal, padlocked door in the house. 

        As he went past, Schuldig's door opened and the redhead stepped  out. 

           Schuldig looked at Nagi as the boy continued down the hall, then out towards the living room. Something was different, something was off, someone was cooking!  

          The amazed telepath followed his nose into the kitchen and found Sam popping two waffles in the toaster. Schuldig headed around the counter and peered over the girls shoulder, eyeing the bacon she had begun to turn over. 

          "Morning Schuldig." Sam said without turning around. 

          " Morning ." He said in return, still staring at the food intently.

           "Did you want something?" She asked.

           "Some of that." He said simply.

Now Sam turned around and stared at him with one eyebrow raised.

           "And what have you done for me lately that makes you think you deserve any?" 

 Schuldig pouted for a second, then smiled, trying for  innocent and friendly.

          "I haven't bothered you all week." He said. 

Sam thought about this for a second, then said. 

           "Fine, but, you have to take me to the grocery store today."

 The redhead pouted for a moment, then sighed. 

            "Fine." He said reluctantly and went over to the table and sat down.        

              Nagi came back into the kitchen a few seconds later, a sleepy looking Farfarello behind him. The two sat down at the table next to Schuldig, having nothing to do but wait for the food to be done. 

         Sam gave the three a glance that said "I don't intend to let you sit there while I work ." Taking the finished pieces of bacon out of the frying pan and starting another batch, she began to give instructions. 

         "Nagi, do you think you could get out four plates and some silverware please? Schuldig would you find me another frying pan? And Farfarello could you please track down the salt and pepper for me. I think I remember seeing the pepper in the living room for some reason." 

           Schuldig was about to complain that he was already taking her to the grocery store, but was too surprised to when he noticed the younger men were doing what was asked of them. He was mostly surprised to see Farfarello doing what she asked, he tended to only respond when given orders.

          "The peppers in the living room because Schuldig threw it at the back of my head yesterday." Nagi commented as he pulled some plates out of the cupboard.  

           Submitting to the majority, the redhead left the table and went scrounging in the bottom drawers for a pan. 

           "I threw it at you because you wouldn't change the damn channel." He shot back as he searched. 

              "Well I like that show for your information." The youth said as he put the plates on the counter for Sam. 

                "That show is annoying." Schuldig announced as he set the newly found pan on the other burner. 

               "I wouldn't be talking if I were you Schuldig." Sam cut in as she turned on the burner. " Nagi might start throwing the pepper at you  whenever you enter the room." At this Nagi started laughing and had to avoid being swatted across the head by the telepath. 

              Schuldig made a face at Sam then went after Nagi again, who was   still chuckling at the redheads expense. 

          This couldn't be right, there was definitely something wrong. He could smell food cooking, he could hear cheerful laughter, and that was defiantly not right. 

       Maybe he'd been abducted by aliens and put back in the wrong apartment. No, that was silly. So what in hell was going on? 

         Brad made his heavy eyelids open at last , he couldn't put it off any longer, this mystery needed solving. Pulling his protesting body into a sitting position, the clairvoyant found his glasses on the side table and got out of bed.

        After getting dressed Brad headed for the kitchen. What he found there nearly made his jaw drop. Some kind of breakfast being prepared, his teammates stood around the kitchen talking casually. What was surprising was Sam was one of them.   

       Brad entered the kitchen and felt the relaxed mood change immediately as the people there noticed him. 

        Nagi held in whatever smart remark he was about to shoot at Schuldig, the redhead turned and gave the older man his customary smirk and Farfarello seemed to lose interest in the world. The clairvoyant ignored his male teammates and walked up to Sam.

       As he approached her, Brad could see her face change with flickers of different emotions. First fear, then worry, a kind of determination, and lastly, a look of challenge. Her head held high, ready to meet any emotion he threw at her. The clairvoyant could tell  that she'd resolved to be a member of the team, and wasn't going to be bullied  anymore. 

       Brad stopped about  two feet away from the girl and examined the food on the counter top. 

       "Now, I know I didn't see any of this stuff in the refrigerator yesterday, so, where, might I ask, did it come from?" The man raised a questioning eyebrow as he asked her this. 

Sam crossed her arms and met his stare.

        "It's from one of our neighbors." She said calmly.

 Brad pushed his already slipping glasses back up his nose.

         "I thought I told you not to talk to the neighbors." He said, equally calm.

          "You told me not to talk to them yesterday, not today." She challenged.

          "Yes but you were aware those rules applied every day." He shot back calmly.

Sam glanced at her nails in an unconcerned manner.

        "Well, maybe you should have been more specific." 

The clairvoyant  stared at her, seemingly unruffled by her defiance.

        "Maybe." He said. 

 They  stared at each other for a couple of seconds in tense silence. Brad broke the tension by turning away suddenly. 

         "I guess Id be willing to overlook this incident if…" He broke off, turning slightly to look back at her. 

           "If ?" She asked, looking at him questioningly. 

             "You'll make some for me too." He finished anticlimactically.

             "I guess I can manage that." She said.

             "Good, I'll be in my office, you can bring it there." He said, heading slowly out of the kitchen. 

               "Do you want coffee with that, **sir**?" He could hear her drag that last word out sarcastically.

               "Of course." He said without a pause in his stride._____________________________________________

As soon as Brad left the room, the sound of  air being released  could be heard from the three remaining males. 

            "I thought he was going to go ballistic." Nagi said quietly, looking towards the office in disbelief.

            "Yeah, he doesn't normally tolerate disobedience." Schuldig added, also staring towards the hall their leader had disappeared down.      

             "How would you know? He doesn't put up with our disobedience. You can get away with just about anything." Nagi pointed out in slight disgust. 

           "That's  because I'm older then you two." The redhead  said with a self satisfied grin. 

           "No its because he's tired of trying to control you. Your like a spoiled child." Nagi declared.  

            "Heh, heh, I might act like a child, but lets not forget who is a child. Schuldig shot back.

             While Nagi and Schuldig returned to bickering aimlessly, Sam got back to finishing breakfast.________________________________________________________________________________ 

             Once the food was done and served  to the three younger men, Sam grabbed Brads plate, coffee, as well as the record of last nights calls and headed for the clairvoyants office. Before she could even attempt to knock on the door, a muffled "come in" could be heard from the other side.  

        She entered the room to find Brad with his head bent over some paperwork. As the young woman set the food and coffee down in a relatively paper free area of the desk, the man looked up at her in a way which said "I have a bone to pick with you." 

         "In the future, Id like you to keep in mind that I don't like being defied. If you continue to toe the line like you did today, I will do something about it." Brad said this calmly, his eyes fixed on hers with an air of seriousness. 

Sam stared back, refusing to be daunted by his threats. She was starting to feel a little angry with him. 

         "And in the future Id like you to keep in mind that I'm not a five year old. I'm supposed to be part of this team now. If you treat me like a juvenile delinquent how am I supposed to feel like a member?" She said this in a controlled voice.

          Brad opened his mouth to speak.

         "I'm not done yet." She spat dangerously. This caused the mans mouth to close before he could get a word out, the look on his face had gone slightly surprised. 

         Sam's patience with him had officially expired. She leaned down over the desk till she was eyelevel with the fearless leader.

         "You know, I've been here for three weeks and this is the first time that I've really spoken to another women. You four at least have each other to talk to, but I don't have anyone of my own gender to so much as say "hi" to. And if you'll remember, women tend to be social creatures." Sam said, her voice tight . 

           "So don't sit there and tell me to hide away in this apartment till you say I can come out. What do you think I'm going to do anyways? You have all my money, I'm not going to leave the country. I'm part of this little group now, do you think I'm going to get on the phone and start blabbing about how I'm a fucking assassin? If you get caught then I get caught, damn it!**" **Sam stood glaring at the not so confidant looking leader, trying to calm herself down. She hadn't come in here with the intent of telling Brad off. But when he'd so coolly started acting like the king of the world, she couldn't take it anymore. Giving him one last death glare, Sam tossed the pad of paper into his lap. 

          "Those are your messages from last night, you never told me I couldn't answer the phone." She hissed  this with a look on her face that just dared him to comment."  Turning,Sam left the room. Leaving the clairvoyant with a small taste of what a women's wrath  really looked like.___________________________________________________________________

 Entering the hallway Sam found the other three men casually pretending they hadn't been trying to listen in. 

         Looking down the hall then back towards the kitchen, her eyes finally settled on Schuldig. His giant grin let her know he wasn't  trying as hard as the others to convince her he hadn't been spying. The redhead opened his mouth to say something smart-alecky as she approached him, but wasn't given the chance. 

"Shut up! We're going to the grocery store." She growled, grabbing the surprised mans collar and dragging him towards the door.________________________________________________________________________________________         

Brad sat staring at the closed door, he was, to put it lightly, a little surprised.

No girl had ever treated him like that, in fact, never in his adult life had someone so verbally flogged him. The mans mind was having a hard time finding the right reaction for this. His emotions finally settled on extremely annoyed. Where did that girl get off, being so pissy at him?  

       With an irritated sigh, Brad turned to examine the notepad that had been so thoughtfully hurled at him. It was a list of phone numbers, a very neat list of numbers. Each number was sectioned off from the other, each  fallowed by a name, short message and time of call.  

       "Huh, she's very organized, I'll give her that much." He said, intrigued. Brad continued to skim the list, only pausing when he noticed one of the names, "Corman, Elena." It was fallowed by a short message which simply said, "Concerning you know what." The time on the note said, "9: 45 P.M." 

  "Shit!" Brad cursed and scrambled for the phone. 

    The line range twice before it was answered. 

    "Miss Cormans office, how may I help you?" A secretary's chirpy voice asked.

     "This is Crawford. Is Miss Corman in?" The clairvoyant slumped in his chair, pushing his glasses up his nose as he spoke. 

     "Yes, she's in Mister Crawford, I'll connect you immediately." The secretary bubbled happily. A second later the cheery voice was replaced by silence. Brad stared absently at the notepad while he waited. 

      Suddenly the voice of his employer was heard.

      "Crawford dear. It's been too long, how are you?" Brad tensed involuntarily at the slippery sweet British accent. 

      "Perfectly fine, thank you." He answered calmly. 

       "I apologize for my late response to your call, I was out late last night." The man continued. 

         "Oh that's all right, you have many responsibilities, its understandable. By the way, I see you've finally gotten yourself a secretary. Its about time, you needed one." 

         Brad looked at the notepad, then at the door Sam had slammed only 15 minutes before. 

        "Yes I suppose I have." The man said, an idea striking him at his employers assumption. 

       "She seems like a nice girl, is she trustable though?" The woman asked. Brad looked away from the door and focused  back on the conversation. 

       "Yes, I can assure you, she's fully trustworthy." 

        "That's good, so hard to find good help these days. My secretaries not trustworthy, simply dumb as a post. But enough with the pleasantries, tell me about the old man." The women's tone went from slyly friendly, to business like in under a second. Brad had been ready for this.

         "We have confirmed that the man has telekinetic power." He said.

           "Good." Was the woman's simple reply . 

           "Do you want us to take care of him?" Brad asked, his tone board. 

            "No, just drug him, then bring him to the warehouse. Someone will be there to pick him up." His employer said coolly. At this order Brad gave the phone a puzzled look but didn't allow his bewilderment to seep into his voice.

             "Alright, when should we meet this person?" He asked, rubbing his forehead in exasperation. Brad was confused, his employer had never asked him to hand a target over to her before. What could she possibly want with this scrawny old fool?

              "Tonight at 11:00, if that's alright with you of course?"  Brad knew the woman wasn't really asking his permission, she was just daring him to say it wasn't alright. 

               "That's fine." He responded nonchalantly.   
               "Wonderful. Always a pleasure talking with you Crawford dear. I'll be in touch." With that said, his employer hung up, not even waiting for a response.

 Brad set the phone down, letting his smooth features twist into a glare as the receiver hit the cradle. 

             "Crawford dear." He muttered, sifting through a pile of papers.

              "I'd like to show her how 'dear' I really am."___________________________________________________    

           Schuldig took a quick glance at the slight figure sitting in the passenger seat.  He had to admit he was sorta impressed with her. Not many people, let alone a girl, could face down Brad Crawford and live through it. The funny thing about it was, she'd actually managed to rattle him! If he hadn't thought she might whack him one, Schuldig would have started laughing right there on the freeway. 

     As they came to a stop at a red light, the redhead let his eyes slid over to Sam. The girl really was cute when she was pissed off. She sat slumped in the seat next to him , her arms and legs crossed, her fingers drumming on her upper arm. She stared fiercely at the dashboard. Her mouth set in an annoyed little frown, part of her lower lip unconsciously being bitten down on, making the frown almost look like a pout. 

        The redhead grinned widely to himself, greatly amused by her obliviously adorable behavior. 

         When they arrived at the grocery store, Sam grabbed a cart and headed inside, Schuldig following  at her heals like obedient puppy. 

       "So what exactly are we looking for here?" Schuldig asked lazily as they strolled through the produce. 

        "Oh I don't know, I guess just something from the five basic food groups." Sam muttered, picking up some apples and putting them in a bag. 

         "Hmm. Haven't had any of those in a while." The redhead mused humorously. Sam just ignored him and continued down the rows of fruit. 

           The two were silent for a long time after that. Schuldig amusing himself by helping shoppers forget what was on their grocery lists. While Sam continued to add things to the cart, trying to calm her frayed temper at the same time.

          They had entered the snack aisle when Schuldig finally turned his attention back to Sam.   
         (Hey, you know what? I just remembered something.) Sam heard the unexpected voice in her head, but continued to calmly look for her favorite brand of chips. 

         (What?) She asked without a hint of interest. Schuldig grinned at her like a Cheshire  cat. 

           (We gave you a name last night .) He revealed this like it was a great honor. Sam dropped a bag into the cart and continued moving.

           (Last time I checked, I already had a name.) She answered. 

           (No, no, I mean a codename.) The redhead explained, dropping a box of cereal in the cart as he spoke. 

            (Codename?) Sam asked, staring at him in confusion.

            (Don't tell me we never told you about them?) Schuldig seemed slightly surprised. Sam shook her head. The redhead leaned against the cart casually and began. 

            (Well you see, we each get a codename so we're not using our real names on missions. I'm Mastermind, Brads name is Oracle, Nagi's Prodigy, and Farfarello's Berserker.)  Sam raised an eyebrow at him, then let a small smile spread over her face.

             ( I can see where the others names come from, but Mastermind? I don't know, I think you look more like a butthead, or maybe a Lamebrain.)  Schuldig scowled mildly at this. 

             ( I'm glad to see you're in a better mood.) He said in a sarcastic mental tone. Sam let the small smile turn into an all out grin.

            (Couldn't have happened without your help.) She answered sweetly. 

             ( I'm flattered. Do you want me to tell you your name, or should I keep it to myself?) Schuldig asked, slight annoyance in his voice. Sam let the grin fade to a smile. 

              ( Alright, go ahead.) The redhead gave her one last pointed look , then launched into his explanation again.

            Omi dropped the can of soup into the cart and reached for another. 

           "I don't see why you needed me to come shopping with you." Yoji complained beside him. Omi turned slightly to look at his friend. The older man was leaning against the cart looking around sulkily. 

            "I needed you to come because my bike wont hold all the groceries, and neither you or Aya will let me use one of your cars." The younger blond said in exasperation. 

             "Hey kid, driving a car is much different then puttering around on one of those bikes. I don't need you wreaking my baby." Yoji said seriously, peering over the top of his sunglasses at the store around them. 

 Omi gave the older man an indignant look.

             "I'm **not** a kid, I have my drivers  license, and I wouldn't crash your precious car. In fact,  I'm probably less likely to crash it then you are."    

             "Yeah, sure, whatever." Yoji said with a small dismissing wave of his hand. 

             The two made there way around the corner and into the next aisle. Omi turned and inspected the shelf in front of him. 

              "You know if you'd jus. . ." The blond youth was cut off as his teammates hand roughly covered his mouth and he was pulled out of the aisle. 

         Omi knocked the hand away and turned, glaring at his friend. He was about to yell at Yoji when he  noticed how alert the older mans eyes were. 

          "What's up?" Omi asked, confused. 

            "Schuldig!!" Yoji hissed, pointing at the aisle they had just hurried out of. 

That was the only word it took to put Omi on guard. The boy turned around quickly and peered carefully around the packaged doughnuts down the aisle in front of him. Sure enough, the detestable  red haired menace was there, but luckily, he didn't seem to have seen them. The man wasn't in the same row  they had been in, but the one directly across the main aisle from them. Schuldig's attention seemed to be on the young woman next to him, who had just picked a pasta sauce off the shelf and was setting it in the cart between them. 

         "Do you think he can, you know, hear us?" Yoji asked, staring down the aisle as well. 

          "No, he's too far away, too many people around to pick us out, probably." Omi said, his tone unsure.   

           "I wonder who the cute girl is." Yoji said , his attention going to the young woman. 

            " I don't know, maybe his girlfriend?" Omi said with a shrug.

             "That's a laugh, I doubt the bastard could get a girlfriend if his life depended on it. Anyways they don't look close enough to be involved." Yoji  said quietly. 

             "Could she be a new member of Schwarz then?" The younger blond wondered. 

             "Could be, their sharing a shopping cart so it's likely she lives with them." The former privet eye said deductively. 

             "Does that mean she has one of those odd gifts too?" Omi asked looking at his friend worriedly. The Weib already had enough trouble managing against the other three's powers. If this woman could contribute something, it might make Schwarz too much for the Weib guys to handle. 

               "I don't know, I thought those weirdo's had  all the freaky powers covered already." Yoji said, also looking somewhat concerned. 

              "Lets get out of here before they get too close and hear us." Omi said, watching as their enemy strolled slowly and obliviously nearer.  

               "Yeah the others  need to know about this." Yoji said. 

With that the two Weib members turned their shopping cart towards the cash registers and moved away.________________________________________________________________________________________   

           ( So, my codenames Maiden.) Sam said thoughtfully.

           ( How often do you think I'll actually have to come with you on missions?) She asked after a moment. 

           (Rarely, I image.) The redhead answered. 

           (But still, when I do go, I wont be able to fight, hell I wont even be able to protect myself.) Sam thought to Schuldig in a troubled tone.

            ( We're not going to leave you alone, one of us will always be with you.) The telepath said in an unconcerned manner. 

            ( So I'm just going to hide behind one of you four the whole time were out? Well I won't be in the way, will I.) The young woman commented sarcastically. 

 Schuldig glanced at Sam then looked thoughtfully at the floor. 

             ( I guess your right. I'll ask Brad about teaching you to use a gun.)

             Eventually the two finished their shopping and  reached the checkout line. 

             "Pull out your wallet Schuldig." Sam said  as she began taking items out of the cart. Schuldig looked at her in surprise. 

             "You expect me to pay for all this." He motioned at the numerous food items. 

             "Well its not like I have any money." The girl said in exasperation. 

              "But you're the one who wanted all this! Why didn't you get money from Brad?!" Schuldig whined, glaring at the young woman in front of him. 

               "Oh, like you're not going to eat any of this." Sam said sarcastically. 

                "And anyways, how was I supposed to get money from Brad after that little encounter? I think you're a total jerk Brad, by the way could I get some money? Yeah right." The young woman gave the redhead an expectant look. Schuldig scowled for a moment then reached into his back pocket.

              "You owe me for this one sweetie."__________________________________________________________ 

          Once the two teammates got back to the apartment building Sam made a quick stop at Yuiri's, then returned to the apartment.   

        The young woman dumped the groceries on the counter and began putting them away. Halfway through filling the refrigerator, she noticed the dirty breakfast dishes still on the table. Sam glared death rays at the offending cutlery, then walked over to the table and scooped them up. 

        "Those three are in big trouble if they think I'm going to become their mother." The girl muttered as she headed back to the kitchen. Finding the sink already full Sam turned around to look for counter space on which she could set the dishes. As she turned  she was surprised to find Brad almost right behind her. The young woman got over it quickly, being too annoyed to be worried. 

         Sam stared at the man for a moment then dumped the dishes in his arms. 

        "Tell your silly teammates that just because I made one meal, it doesn't make me a housewife." The young woman said this as she cleared an area on the counter. She then turned back to Brad. 

        "This place is pretty clean so I assume you guys are used to cleaning up after yourselves. I'm not going to become the maid, so don't slack off on my account." Sam shook a finger at Brads nose, them took the dishes back from the bemused clairvoyant. She set the dishes in the designated space then turned back once again to face the man in front of her. 

          Brad stared at the young woman for a moment before seeming to remember what he'd come there to do. 

         "I'll speak to them." He said slowly. The man then stared down at his hands for a moment before looking up again. 

         "I'd like to apologies  for treating you so impolitely during the past few weeks. You are a teammate, not a prisoner. And though I'm not yet willing to give you total freedom, I will agree to give you back certain rights."  Sam raised an eyebrow at her new leader and leaned against the counter, arms crossed. She could tell that he wasn't really sorry, the apology didn't reflect in those brown eyes of his. So what could Brad Crawford want from her that would make him forget her outburst, and want  to get on her good side? 

          "What are you after?" Sam asked bluntly. A flicker of amusement passed through the clairvoyants eyes.

           "I want you to be my assistant of sorts. I need someone to answer the phone, remember dates, help me keep things in order and such. I noticed how organized you are, and I remembered you were a secretary before joining us. I'd like your help. The man said diplomatically. Sam looked at him thoughtfully then asked.

           " I can speak to the neighbors and talk on the phone?" Brad nodded.

            "What about the computer and all those other little things?" She asked, eyeing him. 

           "Allowed, but if you spill anything on the rug I'll still have to punish you severely." She could hear the small trace of humor in the mans tone . 

        (Well maybe that stick isn't as far up his ass as I thought it was.) She thought with a small smirk. 

            "Fine, I'll play secretary for you." Sam agreed. 

            "I'm glad to hear that, I'll have stuff for you to do tomorrow." Brad said and turned to leave, but  then turned back. 

             "One more thing, could we get you to continue cooking meals once in a while?" He asked. 

             "If you guys will do the dishes." Sam said with a small nod. 

             "Agreed." Brad nodded back._______________________________________________________________ 


	5. Good Evening

          (Stares with big watery eyes.)  I'm so sorry!!!!!! I know I haven't updated in such a long time!!!!! I didn't mean to take so long, but I've been in a really weird mood for a really long time. I want to write but when I try I find I can't!! (Tears stream like waterfalls.)

Let's just hope I get out of it soon! Till then here's what I managed to get down. I meant to make the chapter longer but I was moving at a snails pace, so I decided to cut it short.  I hope you enjoy it!!!!

 I don't own Schwarz or Weib, which is actually probably a good thing considering I'd have nowhere to keep them.   

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            She stared absently down at the small, skinny kitten in her lap, watching its long tail swish back and forth slightly, its little ears twitching randomly. The chilled wind pushed her long hair across her face, obscuring her view and tickling her nose as it blew around her. Slowly she pushed the hair away and tucked it behind her ear. 

            "Why do people have to die?" She asked suddenly, looking up at the little boy sitting next to her. The slim boy stared at the cream colored lump in the girls lap, his dark brown eyes unfathomable.

             "We die because it is a part of life.  If no one died, we would not know to enjoy being alive." She stared at the little boy as he said this, watching as his head turned slightly to look at the darkly dressed group below them.

          "But if it has to happen, why does it hurt so much?" She asked, her eyes turning downwards to watch her hands clutch the edge of the stone bench. 

            "Hurting is also necessary in life. We must hurt so we can find a way to be happy." The boys hand appeared in her line of vision as it moved to cover her own. Then she heard his calm voice continue.  

             "It may not seem fair, but we must suffer and struggle, it is the only way to see the entire picture that is life. There must be an opposite to every good thing, in order to make us see that good things value." As he spoke, the fuzzy kitten in her lap stretched, opening its mouth in a yawn, its small pink tongue uncurling into view. She raised her free hand and stroked the top of its tiny head, letting her fingers run between its ears and down its neck and back. The small creature purred contently and relaxed back against her legs to continue dozing. 

             Silence stretched out after that. She sat staring out at the dreary scenery. The hill on which they sat overlooked what seemed to be miles of treeless land. She could see the green grass rustling on the many smaller hills around them. The gray stones on those hills seemed to point to the dark, rain heavy clouds above. As if warning of the impending downpour. 

       The wind once again loosed the thick hair from behind her ear, pulling it across her eyes like a curtain of blue silk. She pushed it impatiently away, her fingers becoming damp as they cleared strands of wet, sticking hair off her cheeks. 

        "Do you think it all ends… when you die?" She asked shakily, staring at the ground again. She had to fight to keep her entire body from fallowing her voices example. 

         The feeling of the boys slim arm as it slid around her shoulder made her look up at his face. His large, dark brown eyes stared into hers kindly.

        "No, I don't think death is the end." He then turned once again to the dark figures below as they filled by in a long, slow procession. She followed the boys gaze, her eyes resting on the two long boxes carried by six of the dark figures.

         "I think death is only another step in life. I believe that though our bodies are gone, our energy goes on to spread out over the universe. In that way, we go on forever." The boy's eyes met hers again.

          "And you know what?" He asked, smiling at her sadly. 

           "What?" She asked. Her vision was blurry with tears.

           "There is another, slightly more concrete way, to make sure the people we care about go on forever." The boy told her, his eyes never leaving hers as he spoke.

            "How?" She asked, a stream of tears trickling down her cheek. 

 The little boy squeezed her to him consolingly.

             "By holding them in your heart. As long as you remember someone, they never really leave." He assured her gently. 

             "You really think so?" She asked, staring at him sadly. 

 The little boy wiped the tears away from her eyes with the hem of his sleeve, then hugged her close. 

               "Of course I do." He answered. 

               It felt as if they sat on that cold bench for hours after that, neither saying a word. The wind continuing to toss her hair gently back and forth. While the kitten lay undisturbed in her lap, unaware of the sober world around it. 

                "What are you doing up here?" A cold voice suddenly broke the weary stillness that lay over the world. 

She looked up to see a tall, stern woman in a charcoal black dress. The woman stood staring at the two of them disapprovingly, her frowning mouth making her face very unpleasant looking.

              She sniffed, trying to clear her voice and wipe the tears out of her eyes at the same time. 

              "Aunt I…" The woman didn't give her a chance to finish. 

               "The funeral is almost over. Its time for you to stop crying, go say goodbye, and start packing. I want to be out of this god-forsaken country as soon as possible. 

The woman said this as she walked over and grabbed her hand, pulling her quickly off the bench. She scooped up the kitten in one arm as she was yanked into a standing position.

             "Aunt, could I take the kitten with me? I found her in the cemetery." She lifted the little bundle of fur up higher for her aunt to see. 

The woman curled her lip up in obvious revulsion.  

           "You may not. I am not going to haul some underfed, diseased little creature back to the US just for your amusement."

The woman gave her a tug towards the black fitted crowd below them. 

           "Now put that thing down and come along." The woman commanded as she dragged her across the grass. 

Looking over her shoulder at the little boy, she slipped free of her aunt's grasp and hurried over to him. 

          "Will you take care of the kitten, please? Find it a good home, alright?" She asked, looking at the boy with beseeching grey eyes. 

           "Alright, I will." The little boy said, excepting the small fuzzy bundle from her. 

            "I'll see you before you leave right?" The boy asked her hopefully.

She glanced quickly back at the woman storming towards were they stood, then at the boys sad face. 

             "Yes, definitely." She said, just as the woman grabbed her by the arm and began pulling her away again.

        Her eyes clouded up with uncontrollable tears as they moved farther and farther away. The little boy was growing smaller and smaller against the backdrop of grey sky as she stared over her shoulder. All the while she could hear her aunt raging about disobedient, ungrateful little girls. The woman sounded so distant in her ears, as if she was the one moving farther and farther away.

             "I'm taking you in out of the goodness of my heart. God knows I'm not equipped deal with some bratty child. Why your parents couldn't find someplace for you to stay here, I have no idea. You'd think they did it on purpose in order to annoy me. Went and got themselves killed…"_________________________________________________________________________________

   "…killed in his home nearly a month ago. Police still have no leads as to who the killers were or how they managed to bypass security."

        The noise of the TV was the first thing that greeted Sam's ears as she floated slowly into the waking world. 

        Rolling slowly over on her back, the young woman wiped away the tears in the corners of her eyes and sighed. 

        (Will I ever be rid of that dream?) She wondered sadly. (Well at least its not the worst one I could have.) The girl thought in a depressed sort of optimism. She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, her head resting on her knees. The young woman sat that way for a long moment, reflecting sadly on the dream. After a while she shook her head gently, dismissing the depressing memories.  

         Sam got up and dressed, then headed down the hall to the kitchen. Passing the living room, she noted Farfarello in one of the large easy chairs. He sat twirling a knife between two fingers calmly. Schuldig was also there, slung out sleepily across the couch, a remote in one hand and a strawberry poptart in the other. 

     If Schuldig had it his way, he'd never be up before 12 o'clock in the afternoon. Since it was six in the morning Sam figured someone had dragged the telepath out of bed against his will. 

       Leaving the two men to their morning TV, Sam entered the kitchen and made herself some coffee and toast. As she moved around the kitchen she could hear a reporter talking about the murder of the Chief Justice the month before. It was pretty old news by now, but the case was so baffling and the man was important, it was understandable that news reports would still be going on about him. What puzzled police was the lack of clues left behind, and that the security system at the Chief Justices home was never triggered. She remembered the police saying that the Chief Justice had an extensive, complicated security system and whoever had managed to get to the man, really knew what they were doing. 

        Sam was pretty sure that her teammates knew something about the Chief Justices death, but they never said a thing about it, so she hadn't bothered to question them. They probably wouldn't tell her even if she had asked, and if they did, she was sure she'd regret asking. 

         Sam finished preparing her breakfast and walked back out into the living room. Once there, she took a seat in the other chair. 

       As she sipped her coffee, Sam found herself staring at Schuldig. He had stuffed the entire poptart in his mouth and was looking sort of chipmunkish with his cheeks full of toaster pastry.

         (Schuldig?) She called to him mentally. The red haired, mind reading, chipmunk man turned slightly in order to see her.

          (Hmm?) He asked sleepily. 

           (What are you doing up so early?) She asked, trying not to laugh at his woodland animal appearance. 

            (That brat Nagi missed his bus and threatened to slam me into a wall if I didn't drive him to school. And of course once I got back here I couldn't get back to sleep.) He said in an annoyed mental tone.

             (Ahh, I see. But I thought Nagi didn't really need to go to school. Why was he so intent on it today?) She asked, taking a bite of her toast. 

              (He said something about tests.) Schuldig answered simply, before turning back to the TV.  

          Sam turned her own attention to the television and continued to eat her breakfast. Some report on business was on next and Sam was starting to tune it out when the word struck a memory. 

            ( Business! That reminds me, Brad has a business meeting with someone this morning. He should have been up by now!) Sam set her food down on the coffee table and headed for Brads room. Once there, she knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

            (That idiot must have stayed up later then usual. You'd think the guy would realize he needs to sleep the night before a morning business meeting.) She thought this as she peered around the door quietly. The lights were off and she could see the clairvoyants still form in the bed. Sighing, Sam stepped into the room and turned on the lights. The man didn't stir at all. 

           Sam walked over and sat down on the side of his bed, she then gave the mans bare shoulder a little shake, then another. The young woman had never actually had to wake the elder assassin up before, so she wasn't really sure how he was going to react.  

      The clairvoyant gave a sleepy groan and squinted as the light invaded his sensitive eyes. He then, uncharacteristically enough, tried to role over and go back to sleep. Sam smiled slightly, an eyebrow raised. She then called out. 

       "Brad!  Oh my always prepared for everything leader! IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU GOT UP!!" This time, she got his attention. The man rolled over sleepily and stared at her like she was insane. 

       "Why are you in my room? Yelling in my ear?" He asked her in a sleepy, moody tone. 

 Sam picked Brads glasses up off his bed stand and slid them up onto the bridge of the clairvoyant's nose. 

"Because, you are supposed to be up getting ready for a business meeting right now." She said as she pushed the glasses into place. 

        Brads sleepy eyes went panicked.

         "Are you sure?" He asked.         

          "Yah Brad, I'm sure. I am your secretary; I'm supposed to know these things." She said in slight exasperation. 

 The man sat up suddenly and shot out of bed, leaving Sam very little time to move out of the way. 

  The young woman was silently glad he was the type of guy that wore pants to bed, otherwise that moment would have been a great deal more awkward.

          "This isn't like you Brad, normally your so organized and punctual. How did you manage to forget about this appointment and wake up late?" She asked, sitting on his bed, back facing him so he could get dressed.

          "I worked later then usual. You can turn around now." He said shortly. 

Sam turned back to face him. 

          "Oh, you mean later then two in the morning? You know they say not getting enough sleep takes years off your life. By now I'd say you're due to die at age 35." Sam commented in a sarcastic tone. The man smirked at her comment and continued buttoning up his shirt.

           "I don't think sleep depredation is going to be what kills me, sweetheart." Brad said in a dark, humorous tone. 

            "Hmm, you never know." Sam said. She then got off the bed. "I'll make you some coffee." The young woman headed out of his room and back to the kitchen.

          Sam reheated the cooling water and finished making the coffee a minute before Brad entered the kitchen. The man accepted the beverage from her and took a sip.

              "Thank you Sam, what would I do without you?" He asked a second later. Sam crossed her arms lightly against her chest and answered.

               "Probably what you did before I was here." 

                After Brad had left, Sam headed back to the living room.

   There, she found that the rest of her breakfast had mysteriously disappeared. 

               The young woman glared death rays at the two male suspects in the room, both of which were staring at the TV as if nothing was amiss. 

            Making her decision, Sam grabbed a pillow off a chair, and whammed Schuldig up the side of the head with it. The accused man covered his head protectively with his arms and laughed.___________________________________________________________________________________

Sam lay on the floor of her room, a book open in front of her. She could hear the four young men hurrying around the house beyond her door. She could tell they were getting ready to leave for their late night "job." 

      The young woman grabbed a spoonful of mint ice cream from the pint sitting next to her, then turned the page of her book. She continued to read peacefully till the sound of her door opening made her look up. 

    Schuldig stood in the doorway wearing his trademark smirk.

     "Don't you know how to knock?" Sam asked in slight annoyance. 

      "I do if the doors locked." He answered, leaning against the frame. Sam closed her book and stared at the redhead.

       "And what if I'd been dressing when you walked in?" She asked.  

As she expected, the telepaths grin widened.

        "I'd consider myself a lucky man." He said simply. Sam rolled her eyes then glared at him mildly. Ignoring her glare, Schuldig walked into the room. Stepping over Sam, the redhead made his way over to the dresser and calmly began looking through the drawers. 

        Sam stared at the man in slight disbelief.

        "What the hell are you doing?" The young woman asked as she forced herself up off her stomach and walked over to him. 

          "I'm finding you something to wear." He answered simply. 

           "For what?" Sam asked in confusion. 

           "For tonight's job, you're coming with us." He answered, not even looking up as he continued to look through one of the drawers.  The young woman noted the drawer the telepath had paused on. She pushed it shut, very nearly catching the redheads fingers.            "I don't think you need anything out of my underwear drawer." She said, giving the pouting assassin a disapproving look.  

             "Fine. So sue me for trying to help!" Schuldig said in mock offence. He then moved on to a lower drawer. 

       Sam shook her head slightly and retrieved her ice cream off the floor. She then moved over to sit on the edge of the bed, next to a pair of pants which Schuldig seemed to have approved. The young women sat eating ice cream and watching the redhead unfold shirts, look them over, then sloppily refold and put them back. 

        Finally, Schuldig found one which seemed to please him and added it to the pants. He then eyed the ice cream carton in Sam's hands.

         "You know you really should stop eating all this junk food." The man grabbed the carton and spoon away from her. 

          "A fat assassin doesn't live that long." He added, then shoveled a large green mound into his mouth.           

           "Your one to talk, all you ate before I got here was junk food." Sam said, looking over the clothing on the bed. Schuldig just shrugged and turned back to the dresser. After a moment of consideration he plucked one last article of clothing out of the drawer and tossed it into the pile.

          "There, now change and join us in the living room in five." The redhead ordered and began heading towards the door. 

          "Wait a second." Sam said.  

         Schuldig stopped and turned to her expectantly. The young woman walked up to the telepath and took the ice cream carton out of his hands. 

          "Now you can go." She said, heading back towards the bed.  Schuldig smirked at the young woman's back and left the room.________________________________________________________________________________ 

Sam leaned heavily against the cool brick wall. The dread inside the young woman was threatening to overwhelm her. She closed her eyes, fighting away the panic which rose with all her unanswered questions. What were they doing here? Were they going to hurt someone? What were they going to ask her to do? 

      Opening her eyes slightly, she focused on Brad and Farfarello. They stood watching the heavy metal door set in the brick wall a few feet away. Their eyes were filled with impatience and interest. 

       Brad had divided the Schwarz members into two groups.  Nagi and Schuldig had gone in the front of the building. While the rest were to wait around back to be let in.            

      Suddenly, the door surged slowly outward, letting out a low groan as it was forced open. A familiar redhead became visible just inside the entrance of the building.

       Without a word, the two men calmly past Schuldig and were lost to the inky black space beyond him. 

       Schuldig turned his gaze on Sam, a feral smirk set on his face. 

       "Shall we, love?" He asked playfully, one hand extended towards her. 

       The young woman stared at the man, then looked past him into the darkness, then finally let her eyes rest on his hand. Trying to banish her unease, Sam took a slow step forward. 

 Impatiently, Schuldig leaned in and seized the young woman's wrist, then tugged her towards the open door. The man was obviously eager to catch up with Brad and Farfarello. 

  Before she had time to think, Sam found herself inside the dark building. The light from outside was rapidly receding as the door groaned back into place; soon there was nothing but impenetrable darkness all around her. 

        (Were are we?) Sam asked in confusion. 

         (A back hallway.) Came the nonchalant voice inside her head. 

The redhead moved forward in the darkness somewhere next to the young woman.  Tugging gently on her wrist, the man started off down the hallway. Sam allowed herself to be led along, lagging slightly behind, all the while, concentrating on pushing her reluctant body forward.  

    The young womans foot caught on the corner of what felt like a box, making her stumble. 

     (How do you know were your going?) She asked in annoyance. Schuldig had yet to trip, bump or collide with a single thing in the dark hall. 

       (I've been in this hall way longer than you, my eyes have adjusted.) He answered coolly. 

      Sam grabbed blindly with her free hand, managing to catch the back of the redhead's coat. The young woman then yanked her captured wrist free of Schuldigs grasp and grabbed hold of the arm of the mans coat instead. A seeing eye dog, that's what he was.                 

     The two reached the end of the hall after what seemed like an hour but was probably only a minute. They passed through a second door and entered a hall illuminated by a single window on the far end of the passage.  

      By the dim blue light of the moon, Sam could read the words painted above a nearby bulletin board. **TOKYO**** **UNIVERSITY****.******      **

_______________________________________________________________________________________

         Brad stared briefly at one of the black boxes in the corner of the ceiling; the small red light was off. Nagi had turned off the security cameras. The clairvoyant and his younger teammate walked silently through the maze of hallways till they reached a stairwell. There, the two paused to wait for their missing companions. After a minute or so Brad could see Schuldig and Sam. As they neared, Brad's eyes fell automatically on Sam. 

     On the surface she seemed calm, but the clairvoyant could see the truth, Sam was sick with worry. Her eyes gave her away. Brad also noticed that one of her hands clutched absently at the arm of the telepaths coat, as if using him for a lifeline. This was almost humorous, considering how few people actually found comfort with schuldig near them. But there was nothing funny about the situation. They couldn't have the young woman freaking out in the middle of a job.  

       (Schuldig, can't you calm Sam down?) Brad asked in exasperation. 

        (Probably not.) The telepath answered with a large smirk. (I told you we should have left her with Nagi.) He continued. 

 Brad rubbed the bridge of his nose.

        (No, we shouldn't have. She needs to get used to this, hiding her won't do her any good. Just because we don't need another trained killer doesn't mean Sam can completely avoid what we do.)

         The group of four had begun to climb the stairs now. 

         (Well then, don't you think we should have started this hmm, I don't know… maybe a month ago?! At least then, her first experience with ratting out that old gizzer would have been fresh in her mind. She would have been more used to this sort of stuff. But no, you have to go and recruit her as your secretary for a month. Tell me Brad, does having a cute little 20 year old bouncing around your office fulfill some repressed fantasy?)  

       Brad glared at his redheaded teammate. Schuldig simply smirked back.

      (You know as well as I that we couldn't have taken her with us on any of our previous jobs. It would have been too much for her. She's not ready to be thrown in the middle of a fight against Weib and she obviously can't handle seeing someone die. Now quite trying to piss me off and settle her down.)_______________________________    

       The group had left the stairs and was heading down another hallway when Sam heard Schuldig's mental voice again. 

       (You know you don't need to be worried, we're not in any danger.) He told her confidently. 

       (It's not us that I'm worried about.) Sam replied distantly, her attention focused on a door some ways down the hall. The door was like all the others in the corridor, the only difference between it and the rest was the flickering fire like light coming through its window.             

          The four moved towards the door, an air of purpose surrounding the three men as they stalked silently closer. Soon, the group had come to a stop beside the lit entrance. There they paused while Brad and Schuldig pulled guns from inside their jackets.

         (They're just for scare.) Schuldig assured Sam after noting the look on her face. He then continued. (When we get in there just stand next to the door, don't move unless we call you over. Got it?) He asked mentally. Sam nodded mutely._________________________________________________________________________________

Emi watched the young man across the table. He sat quietly, staring intently at his hand. She didn't know the youth, not well anyway, he was in one of her classes. He had come to this school only recently. The moment David and her had seen the brown haired young man, they had known something was different about him. He was like them somehow. The day before Emi had left a note in the boys locker, asking him to meet them here.   

        Suddenly a small flame erupted slightly above his palm. Emi stared in astonishment as the flame grew, expanding to the diameter of his hand. 

         Next to her, David remained impassive, but she could feel his wonderment as clearly as she felt her own. 

        The boy held the fire for a few moments before letting it extinguish itself.

        "Wow, that's really amazing! When did you realize you could do that?" Emi asked the boy in front of her. 

        The boy shrugged casually. 

       "I don't not know, I guess when I was seven or somewhere near there."

        "What did you say your name was?" David asked calmly.

        "It's Akio."

        "Nice to meet you, Akio." This is David, he's an exchange student from the U.S, and I'm Emi. The girl introduced. 

       Emi opened her mouth to ask the boy another question, but shut it, distracted she suddenly realized that something felt wrong. There were too many emotions in the room. She could feel David's suppressed interest and Akio's hesitant friendliness, but she could feel something else, something malicious. 

        Her head snapped towards the door just as it flew open. 

      The woman rose, catching the two boy's attention. They rose as well, unsure of what was happening. 

       A man stood in shadows, just outside the doors frame. Emi felt herself grip the table's corner, an unexplainable terror running through her.  

        The man stepped into the moonlight room, the shadows falling away from his form. Long orange hair seemed to shine unnaturally in the blue light. A wide cold grin spread across the strangers face, matching his icy blue eyes well. 

       Behind him, two more men stepped through the door, one with black hair and an eerie calm to his face. The other had white hair and grinned in a way that was twice as unnerving as the redhead. 

       Emi backed up a step. The emotions in these men churned and boiled unpleasantly. The power of their feelings were warping themselves into one overpowering wave that toward over her friends and self ominously, ready to crash down at any moment.

       Suddenly the man with the cold blue eyes addressed them. 

        "Good evening my dear lady, and fine gentlemen."


	6. Disgusting Brute

Look I'm still alive! You were beginning to have doubts huh? Sorry it took so long, I've been really busy for a really long time. Just finding enough time to sleep has been difficult. Damn evil school! I could be doing something productive but nooo they want me to learn! Well here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy it!

Schwarz does not belong to me. (Sniffle) It's so sad.

Nagi stared indifferently at the only lit monitor in the room, his finger tapping rhythmically on the button which changed the security camera channel. Each camera for their wing was off now, so the monitor showed black. Only one camera was still on and that was the one closest to where his team was standing. Normally this would defeat the entire point of turning off all the other cameras, but Nagi had made sure that it wasn't recording, so there was no hurt in watching his teammate's activities. The teenager rolled his eyes as he noted the grin on Schuldig's face before he entered the classroom. Nagi had been with Schwarz long enough to know the redhead grinning like that meant he was about to get theatrical with his victims.

"Just hurry up and get it over with Schuldig, I don't want to be here all night."

Nagi murmured. He then turned his eyes on the young woman in the group's company, watching her lean against the wall near the door.

"She really shouldn't have to do this." The boy said quietly to himself. He then pulled his gaze away from the girl's forlorn form and observed the rest of the group. The three guys were now inside the classroom, he could see their backs through the doorway.

Nagi leaned back in his chair, eyes trained half lidded on his companions forms. He was sitting this way, his fingers drumming on the armrests in boredom, when suddenly, the figures on screen exploded into motion.

Schuldig listened to the students reactions to his showy opening line. The two men's thoughts were simply wary of them, but the woman on the other hand was in a state of terror. Her mind was chaotic with fear.

The redhead reached for his weapon waiting ready in its holder under his jacket, but didn't make it in time. The Japanese man had noticed the movement and taken action. Fire came slamming up out of his hands and swarmed in a great cloud towards the Schwarz men.

(Shit!) Schuldig thought as he ducked low to the ground, with Brad and Farfarello doing the same behind him.

"Run!" The girl urged her companions and headed for a door at the opposite side of the classroom.

"Shit!" Schuldig repeated out loud all the more vehemently as he jumped up and ran through the disappearing flames. The three students had almost made it to the door by now. The redhead was vaguely aware of Farfarello jumping up and following him towards the escaping group.

The door opened and the American slipped out into a dark room, closely followed by the female. Farfarello now jumped onto a nearby desk and launched himself at the remaining Japanese male. Schuldig hurried by the Irish man who had slammed the other man to the floor and knocked him into unconsciousness. The redhead entered the dark room and just glimpsed one of the last targets as she rushed out another door which led to the hallway.

"Shit!"

Sam stood obediently next to the entrance of the classroom. She could hear the commotion taking place in the room but couldn't bring herself to investigate it. The young woman stared at the opposite wall, her fingers unconsciously pulling at the gloves Brad had insisted she where.

Suddenly the door to her right opened with a shudder. A man ran out and away from her down the hall. A moment later Brad appeared from the entrance next to her and took off down the hall after the man. Seconds after the two had disappeared around a corner, a young woman with the glow of an empath, ran from the door to the right and headed the same way Brad had gone. Sam panicked. If she went that way she was sure to run strait into Brad! Before she could reconsider it, Sam sent an emotional call out to the young woman, stressing danger.

The young woman stopped abruptly and starred at her in confusion. Sam pointed the opposite way, stressing safety as best she could through her emotions. She couldn't speak to this woman she knew; Schuldig or Farfarello would hear her. The woman in front of her hesitated for a moment. Sam tried to convey extreme urgency as best she could. With a nod the woman passed the female Schwarz member and ran down towards the stairs Sam and the guys had climbed not long before.

The exchange between the two women had taken only a few seconds, and moments after the female had passed the place Sam stood, Schuldig flew through the door to the right and paused in front of Sam. Sam recoiled slightly into the wall, suddenly frightened of the telepaths expression. The redhead watched the woman disappear down the stairs, then turned to stare at Sam.

He shook in barely controlled anger. Schuldig had heard the unconscious thoughts that had slipped into Sam's emotional exchange with the other woman. What was the bitch trying to do, get them all caught!

Schuldig's hand raised fast to backhand her.

Sam clenched her fist, she knew she wouldn't be in time to counter the mans blow, so she closed her eyes readying for pain.

Schuldig saw the young woman's large eyes lock momentarily with his own before they slid shut. Something shuddered inside the redhead. It gave him a sick feeling in his stomach, and took the anger out of his entire arm. The telepaths hand paused in midair.

Sam opened her eyes slowly and stared at the redhead in bewilderment.

Schuldig swallowed the sudden knot in his throat, and swiftly grabbed the girls chin.

"Go to the cars, we'll discuss this later." He hissed, still seething, yet now strangely disturbed as well. The redhead then released her and ran for the stairs. 

Nagi finally sat back from were he had been leaning forward on the security control panel. He stared at the lone female figure in the hallway.

"Well that was certainly interesting." The youth mumbled.

Nagi stood thoughtfully, turning off the last monitor as he did. It was about time he got down to the meeting spot.

"Bye guys, keep up the good work." He said sarcastically, stepping over the two unconscious security guards on the floor.

Sam stared dismally out the window of Schuldig's car, watching the street lights flicker by in the darkness. The assignment was over, and all three of the targets had been successfully recovered. Schwarz had now split up; Brad and Nagi had taken the hostages to a designated drop off point, while Schuldig was driving Sam and Farfarello back home.

Sam pulled her shoes and coat off as she entered the apartment, then walked towards her room, having every intention of simply falling into bed and not moving till noon the next day. She reached her door, but before the girl could enter she was suddenly grabbed and spun around.

Irritated and exhausted Sam glared at the redhead staring down at her.

"We have something we need to discuss." The redhead informed her in an infuriatingly civil tone.

"It can wait till I've slept for a good 10 hours." Sam replied, not quite so civilly.

"No it can't." Schuldig's response was more a warning then a statement.

"Yes it can." Sam countered, knowing she was pushing her luck.

(Schuldig.) Came a calm voice in the telepaths head. Schuldig turned to look at Farfarello, who was in front of his own door, staring at them with raised eyebrow.

(Make sure you don't lose your temper and hurt her. Your relationship is already too rocky … and weird.) The Irish man informed, then slipped into the darkness of his room without another word.

Schuldig turned back to the young woman who was staring at him defiantly, and glared silently back.

"Move it." The redhead growled and dragged her to the opposite side of the hall and through his own door. Once inside, he shut the door, released Sam's arm and leaned against the door, barricading them in.

Sam stood in the center of the room now, her arms crossed, largely in annoyance and a little self protection. She'd never seen Schuldig so serious for so long, this was almost worse then when he was grinning all the time.

"What exactly were you thinking?" Schuldig asked suddenly, walking away from the door and closer to Sam.

Sam stepped back a bit.

"What?" She asked, slightly confused.

Schuldig came a few steps nearer.

"What were you thinking when you let that girl go?"

Sam stared for a moment then shrugged looking away from the man, unwilling to talk. The telepath stared in annoyance and stepped closer as he spoke.

"Yah I supposed it must have been something close to nothing. Because if you had been using that pretty little head of yours, you would have realized you could have gotten us all caught! We lay our plans carefully, and when you go screwing around with them, deciding who you think should win and who shouldn't, you put us in danger! Did you think that girl would have just gone home and forgot about all this! No she would have gone to the police and been able to describe all four of us to them! Then what would we do!" Sam glared at Schuldig as he drew closer and closer to her. She in turn backing up with each step he took towards her.

"Your exaggerating. I'm not stupid Schuldig, I know the extent of your powers. You would have just waltzed into that police office and erased the entire staff's memories, then Nagi would have gotten rid of our files." Sam said, staring coldly. She backed up one more step and hit the wall.

"That may be true, but there are too many things that could go wrong with that." The redhead spoke calmly now, looking at his knuckles absently. "Besides that, what about next time? What happens the next time you interfere? How do you now you won't just completely destroy one of Brad's schedules and get one of us killed? We may be good, but we rely heavily on Brad being able to predict who will do what, what will go where, and when it all will happen. You go and throw an extra variable in there on a whim, and it might all go to hell. Is that what you're trying to do? Get us killed off?" Schuldig stared slyly at the young woman from the corner of his eye, knowing she wasn't trying anything of the sort.

Sam thought about this new information for a moment. She knew the telepath was right, she could easily get someone hurt if she did that again. She didn't like the idea of getting Schwarz hurt anymore then she did the people they were after. She'd feel guilty if she was the reason Brad, Farf or even Schuldig got killed, and if something happened to Nagi, she'd be downright heartbroken.

Sam stared at her feet, clutching her arms.

"It wasn't my fault though, I wasn't the one who messed up tonight, you can't blame it all on me." She whispered.

Schuldig grinned down at the young woman. That was as much verbal submission he could expect to get from the stubborn female.

"I know." He said simply, leaning one arm on the wall.

Sam now began slowly edging her way around the large redhead who was severely infecting her personal space.

Thoroughly enjoying being a cold hearted bastard that evening, Schuldig leaned his other arm against the wall, encasing the young woman. Sam stood with her arms still locked around herself, her head turned to the side, eyes hidden from view beneath a sheet of blue silk strands. Schuldig inclined till his lips nearly touched the girls ear.

"Be thankful I was the one who caught you tonight, and not Brad, he would not have been so forgiving." The man whispered. Then, on a whim, he burrowed his nose in the girls soft hair and inhaled deeply.

Sam tensed at the telepaths nearness and swiftly elbowed the unsuspecting man in the gut, sending him back a few steps.

"Disgusting brute." The young woman growled, glaring at Schuldig as she made her way toward the door. The redhead touched his sore stomach and grinned at Sam, watching her avoid nearing him by fallowing the wall till she hit the door frame.

"Remember what I told you little one." Schuldig purred as Sam pulled the door open.

"It's in your best interest." He finished as she slipped through into the hallway.

Nagi entered the kitchen with a yawn and headed for the refrigerator. Taking out the milk, he went to the cupboard and found the Cheerios. The boy then grabbed a bowl and spoon and entered the dining room. There, he found Brad and Sam. The clairvoyant sat reading a newspaper and sipping coffee at the table, while Sam was at the other end, nursing her own cup of coffee and staring vaguely at the table top.

Nagi took a seat next to the young woman and looked at her in curiosity as he spooned Cheerios into his mouth. She didn't seem to have noticed he was there, simply continuing to stare at the table like she wasn't really seeing it.

Halfway through his breakfast, Nagi lost to his curiosity and put his hand on the girls arm, seeking her attention. Sam jumped slightly, as if coming out of a trance, then turned toward the youth with a tired sort of surprise to her face.

"I'm sorry Nagi, how long have you been sitting there?" She asked sleepily.

"A few minutes now. Are you alright? You seem a little out of it." The boy voiced his concern. Sam smiled slightly and nodded.

"I'm fine, just a little tired is all." She answered and turned to stare at her coffee for a moment.

Nagi frowned slightly. He could tell she was tired, but why? Being tired didn't exactly explain her spacey behavior either. This wasn't even the first time he'd seen her like this, he realized, she'd been acting a little off for a few days now, ever since their last assignment.

(I wonder if she's upset over those three students. Maybe she needs something to take her mind off them.)

"Hey Sam, how about we go to the mall after I get back from school this afternoon? You were saying last week how I need new clothes. I'll buy us a late lunch while were out." Nagi stared at her hopefully. Sam looked for a moment like she was considering turning him down, but seemed to change her mind. The young woman set her chin in the heel of her hand, her eyes losing their troubled look. She smiled at the boy slightly.

"You really do need some new clothes; you look like a little dweeb in those school uniforms."

Nagi made a face at the young woman, at which Sam just laughed.

"Alright, you're on." She told him and took a sip of her coffee.

"But your not paying for all of lunch." She finished.

(She's right; he does look like a dweeb in those uniforms.) Brad finished his coffee, and continued to peer half interested over the edge of his paper towards his two teammates. The clairvoyant hadn't realized the two had become so comfortable around each other. It was amazing how much he missed while he was in his office.

Brad turned back to the paper, aware as Nagi left to catch his bus and Sam finished her coffee.

"You want me to take that?" Brad looked up at Sam's sudden question.

She was standing now, pointing at his empty cup. Brad handed the cup over without a word.

"Your welcome." The young woman murmured in casual sarcasm as she headed towards the kitchen.

The clairvoyant raised an eyebrow at her retreating form, then set down the newspaper. He stood and stretched slightly, then headed around towards the kitchen door. Leaning against the frame, Brad waited as Sam cleaned out the two cups and put them in the dishwasher. He watched her dry her hands and turn away from the sink. Strangely enough she didn't seem to notice him, she was staring at the floor as she moved and didn't see him till she almost ran into him. Sam then halted abruptly and met his eyes.

Brad pushed the glasses back up his nose and stared back.

"Are you alright?" He asked her casually, not particularly concerned. (Nagi's right, she is out of it today.) He thought.

The woman gave him a "what's it to you" look, but answered.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good, I have some work for you today." The man said, then headed towards his study, knowing the young woman would follow.

After handing Sam a pile of mail and other work to sort through, Brad settled behind his desk. The young woman made herself comfy in her favorite spot at the end of the couch. In this way, the two teammates worked together without a word passing between them for some time.

Around ten o'clock Brad emerged from his work to realize Farfarello and Schuldig should have been woken up by now.

Sam walked down the hall towards the rooms of the two sleeping assassins. The first door she came to was Schuldig's. She stood staring at the white paint of the door, stalling for a while. Sam didn't particularly feel like dealing with the redhead this morning, she hadn't felt like it since their last real conversation, the night after the mission. After that night Sam had sort of avoided being around the grinning telepath. It wasn't that she was really afraid of him now, though he did make her uneasy and annoyed a lot. Mostly it was that he made the events of the past more weighing then they already were. She kept replaying the scenes of that night over and over in her head, and no matter how she looked at it, she felt guilty. She felt responsible for those students pain, even though she hadn't done anything. She also felt guilty for their disappearance, even though she had resolved to be part of Schwarz. Yet at the same time, she felt bad about going against Schwarz. By helping that girl she had betrayed their trust and put them in harms way. They weren't all exactly the nicest, or even sanest people, but that didn't mean she wanted them hurt. Sam didn't want anyone to get hurt, and that was the whole problem.

The young woman shook her head to clear it of conflicting thoughts then knocked on the door and waited. There was no answer from the other side so she slowly opened the door and peeked in. The room was dark and the form on the bed was still. Sam checked to see what state of undress the man was in, and could just barely see the hem of his pants, around his dimly illuminated ankle. She had once been informed by Nagi that Schuldig's sleeping attire varied depending on what state he'd been in the night before. When he was sober he normally slept in just a pair of pants. When he was drunk off his ass, he sometimes didn't even make it to his room, much less manage to change his clothes. Yet, when Schuldig was only slightly tipsy, he somehow always ended up nude. This was something Nagi unfortunately knew from his own experiences of trying to wake the redhead up, as well as the reason Brad never woke the man up himself.

Sam stepped into the room and turned the light on, hoping it would be enough to wake the redhead up, but he didn't even stir. Sam moved towards the bed at a leisurely pace, in no hurry to see Schuldig awake. Once she reached the side of his bed she could tell exactly what state the man had been in when he went to sleep; totally sloshed. He lay fully clothed, feet on his pillow, his arms cradling his head and mass of red hair, which sprawled over his arms and across the blankets in tangled streams.

Sam stood studying the fallen telepaths face, amused despite herself. The stupid bastard could look surprisingly innocent and carefree when he was asleep. She pushed that thought aside and leaned down enough to grab his shoulder, then gave it a shove.

"Schuldig wake up!" She called, rocking him back and fourth.

The redhead didn't respond in the slightest, he was out cold, and nothing she did was going to change that right now.

Sam sighed and stared at him for a few more minutes, then finally decided to move on to the next assassin and come back to this one later.

Leaving the redheads room, Sam continued down the hall to the metal plated door at its end. She typed in the security code into the pad and slid the door open.

Sam had only recently been given the "privilege" of waking their imbalanced teammate up in the morning. At first she had been sort of frightened at the prospect of being around Farfarello when he first woke up; a grumpy psycho was not a pleasant thing. But the man had surprised her, he was actually at his most docile in the morning.

Sam neared the bed in the corner of the nearly empty room, and leaned down to tap the sleeping Irishman's shoulder. Unlike the German redhead, who could sleep through Armageddon, the younger European was a very light sleeper. Farfarello woke almost the moment Sam's fingers connected with his shoulder.

The young woman watched as Farfarello opened his eye slowly then turned his head slightly in order to see her better.

"Good morning Farf." She said, trying not to smile at his sleepy stare and scruffy morning hair.

Farfarello yawned and sat up slowly.

"Morning Sam." He replied then proceeded to stretch, looking very cat like as his muscles extended, seemingly like rubber over his wiry body.

Watching him thoughtfully, Sam suddenly had an idea.

"Hey Farf, could I get your help with something?" She asked.

Farfarello directed his attention back to the young woman and stared for a moment in bemusement.

"Alright." He said after a moment and looked at her, obviously expecting instructions. Sam simply motioned for him to follow her and walked towards the door.

Farfarello pulled himself out of the blankets pooling around his waist and grabbed a discarded white shirt from the floor. Pulling it on over his head he followed quietly after Sam as she left the room and headed down the hallway.

Reaching Schuldig's door, Sam turned to look at the man standing beside her.

"We are going to wake Schuldig up." She said as if it was a very serious matter. Farfarello gave the girl another bemused look. Sam ignored it and entered the telepaths room. Walking to Schuldig's bedside she took one corner of the redheads blanket and handed it to Farfarello. Sam then grabbed the other end and looked at the Irish assassin. Farfarello was smirking knowingly now, having figured exactly what it was the girl was planning.

Sam put three fingers up and counted down silently. As the last finger lowered, the two Schwarz members gave a great pull on the blanket Schuldig rested peacefully atop. The blanket left the bed, pulling the redhead with it, and as soon as the mattress ended, gravity took over and displayed its amazing reliability. The telepath smacked into the floor.

Pulling his face off the floor, Schuldig grabbed his aching head and cursed colorfully in his native language. When he finished, the redhead looked up from where he still lay sprawled on the carpet and seemed to notice his teammate's presence for the first time.

"You!" He yelled and made as if to lunge for Sam's ankles. He then instantly seemed to regret it, clutching his head again and collapsing back onto the ground.

For a second time that morning Schuldig went off into a spree of raging German language.

Sam looked on this pitiful scene in great satisfaction then turned slightly to Farfarello.

"What exactly is he saying?" She asked curiously.

Farfarello stared, increasingly amused at his senior colleagues discomfort and answered.

"He's basically calling you a mad, cold hearted, bitch, but the exact translation is a bit too crude for me to repeat to a lady like yourself." The young man said with a grin. He then grabbed Sam swiftly by the waist and pulled her back a foot as Schuldig made another valiant dive for her ankle, his hand snapping like a rabid chihuahua.

Sam gave Farfarello an appreciative look then turned to Schuldig.

"Oh, don't get all huffy with me Schuldig. Brad told me to get you up."

"He didn't tell you to drop me on my face, did he!" The man growled angrily as he slowly levered himself into a sitting position. Sam crossed her arms and grinned.

"No, but I'm sure he would approve."

Schuldig growled deep in his throat, having no way to disprove that comment.

Sam smirked and turned away from the exceptionally annoyed redhead, heading for the door. Farfarello fallowed close at the young woman's heels, grinning back at his teammate as he went.

Meanwhile, Schuldig sat on his floor, rubbing his head, and cursing a particular female's existence.

Nagi opened the apartment door and stepped into the hallway. Discarding his coat and shoes in quick casual succession against the closet door, he moved towards the living room. There, he found Schuldig lounging on the couch with a beer, watching TV. Nagi left the living room without a word and turned down the hall. He stopped at Sam's bedroom door and knocked. When no answer came he opened the door and peeked inside. Finding it deserted, he moved on to the other likely place for the young woman to be; Brads study.

Brad as usual, called that he could come in before Nagi even knocked. Nagi opened the door and walked into the room. As he suspected she would be, Sam was there, sitting on the couch, a large pile of paperwork on her lap.

"Hi Sam." Nagi said as he neared her. The young woman looked up at him and smiled.

"Hi Nagi, seems like your back fast. I guess I lost track of the time." Sam stretched and set the pile of work aside.

"You ready to go?" She asked the boy. Nagi nodded. Sam stood and moved over to Brad's desk.

"Hey Brad, could I get a late lunch break? Nagi and I would like to head out now." The young woman leaned casually on her leader's desk as she spoke. Brads eyes left his work to stare at Sam for a long second before directing his attention back to the computer in front of him.

"You may, but I need you back here later this evening." He said calmly. Sam raised a curious eyebrow but only replied.

"Whatever you say, boss." She then put on a charming smile.

"I could use a little bit of my pay check about now though." The clairvoyant said nothing but opened a drawer and pulled out an envelope, he then handed it over to the young woman.

"Thank you Brad." She said sweetly and turned to Nagi.

"Let's go." The two teammates left the room and walked down the hall to the living room.

Schuldig craned his head around to watch his two teammates walk by.

"Where are you two going?" He asked, then emptied the remaining contents of the beer bottle into his mouth.

"Out." Sam said simply as she passed him. Schuldig stared at them silently for a moment.

"Would you like some company?" He asked finally, pleasantness oozing from his voice as if to cover up the conniving tone beneath it.

Sam stared at the redhead as if he had some sort of gross disfiguration.

"Yeah right, like I trust your company." She said sardonically. Schuldig pouted unconvincingly from his spot on the couch.

"Sammy my dear, you break my heart!" He said mournfully, voice void of any actual mourn.

At this time Farfarello entered the living room from the kitchen. He stared blankly at Schuldig's theatrical performance, then turned to look at the two near the door.

"Do you mind if I come?" He asked Sam and Nagi.

Sam smiled at him.

"It's fine with me, but is it okay with you Nagi?" The young woman turned to the younger boy.

"It doesn't bother me." Nagi shrugged.

"But we should ask Brad about it." He added, remembering the last time the three had been out together. He hadn't seen what had taken place between Brad and Schuldig afterwards, but he had heard it.

"Alright I'll go ask." Sam said and walked back towards Brads room.

"Hey Brad, could we take Farfarello with us?" The young woman asked as she entered the room.

The clairvoyant looked up from his work and stared, his expression as unreadable as a petrified book.

"Alright, but only if you take Schuldig with you too." He said finally. Sam sighed and looked at the ceiling.

"You still really think I'm going to run off? She asked in exasperation.

Brad stared at the young woman over the rim of his glasses.

"No, but if you guys leave him here he'll get board and start bugging me."

Sam smiled despite the unwanted arrangement, then sighed dramatically in an "I'm making a sacrifice for you here" sorta way.

"Fine, I'll take him with us. At least then we can bully him into driving." She added.

Brads eyes flickered in amusement. He then turned wordlessly back to his work.

Sam took this as a hint to leave, and headed back to the others.

"You can come Farf." Sam announced as she entered the living room. She looked at the redhead still on the couch, seemingly ignoring the group for a TV program.

"So can you Schuldig." She said, her tone slightly pained.

Schuldig continued to stare at the TV without a backward glance.

"Nah, I don't think I want to now, I know when I'm not wanted." Fake hurt was slicked over a devious undertone.

Sam glared slightly, knowing she was being messed with as payment for the mornings transgressions. She decided to play his game. She headed towards the couch.

"Oh I was just kidding Schuldig, we really do want you to come with us." Sam's tone was sickly sweet as she moved up behind where the telepath sat.

"I still don't think I believe you." The mind reader whined, yet Sam could almost hear the grin on his face. He obviously expected her to beg for it.

"Please come?" She asked.

"Nah."

" Pretty please?"

"No thank you, I just don't feel loved today." He held out haughtily. Sam rolled her eyes skyward and prepared to employ her last, desperate tactic.

The young woman set her fingers on the redhead's broad shoulders and slowly slide onto her knees, her hands moving downward, one unintentionally slipping down the front of his shirt. At the contact of warm skin on her palm, Sam's first instinct was to yank away, but she resisted the urge and continued down till her knees met the carpet. The young woman then hooked her chin over his shoulder and nuzzled the crook of his neck.

" Pretty please with sugar on top… Schu?" She breathed, the scent of her fellow assassin invading her senses. Part of her wanted to gag on her disgusting words mixed with his deceptively sweet smell.

Schuldig leaned into the warm press of her face against his neck and grabbed the hand under his shirt. Leading it over his chest in a circular motion, he answered.

"Oh I guess if you want me that much then …I'll come." He said lazily, a grin rivaling a mad mans splayed across his face. He released Sam's hand.

"Oh good." She murmured, then in a burst of madness brought on by extreme irritation, the young woman sealed her lips over the bottom of his ear and simultaneously raked her nails up the sensitive skin around his nipple, before quickly pulling away.

"We'll take your car then." She said with a collectedness that surprised even herself. Sam turned away from the couch, and headed for the door.

Meanwhile Farfarello and Nagi stared between the two in silent fascination.

"I wonder, when did their relationship get so sadistic?" Nagi mumbled as he watched Sam walk out the front door. Farfarello just shrugged in amusement and hurried to follow his new female idol.

Schuldig sat still on the couch, he was going to need a minute or two to "compose" himself.


	7. Very much so

Hello again! After what feels like years of neglect, I have finally updated my story. Yes I know it's a shocker, I'm sure anyone who used to read this story has long since written me off as dead or a permanent sabbatical, but no I have in fact been working on it. Ok, so I admit I've spent long months writing absolutely nothing, and thinking the whole things a pile of crap that needs to be redone. I did eventually manage to get this chapter to look vaguely decent though, between bouts of self pity and disillusionment of course.

I thank anyone who has taken the time to continue checking the progress of this story, and I hope this chapter was worth the wait!

Once again these characters are not mine, they belong to other people.

Sam pulled a youths shirt off the rack and looked it over appraisingly, then with an approving noise, she set it on the growing stack of cloths in Nagi's arms. The boy was looking a bit bewildered by now.

(How could one person need this much stuff?) He wondered.

A few racks down from them, Schuldig yawned in a loud, exaggerated fashion and wandered away through the cloths racks, staring indifferently as he went. Sam ignored the mans obvious display of boredom and addressed the boy laden with young men's attire next to her.

"I guess you should go try those on before you collapse." Nagi nodded in agreement and turned towards the dressing room.

As the boy headed towards the changing room, Sam wandered down the aisles till she ended up at a table stacked with different hats. Grabbing a camouflage beach hat she put it on and looked herself over in the mirror. Leaving it on, the young woman moved to a display of sunglasses and began randomly selecting shades to model. Around her fifth pair, Schuldig appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, sporting a larger grin then normal and hiding something behind his back.

"Hey, I have something more …flattering for you to model." He said, taking in the wide brimmed hat and large purple sunglasses she was wearing. The young woman gave the redhead a suspicious look over the rim of her big, sparkly, purple shades.

"Oh really? And what would that be?" She asked, hands landing on her hips.

Schuldig pulled a hanger out from behind his back with a flourish and grinned like a hyena.

"You could have lots of fun posing in this, for me." He added suggestively.

The young woman stared at the black lacy outfit on the hanger. It was the type of garment that left little to the imagination.

Sam stared for a moment longer, sudden inspiration hitting her. She looked back at Schuldig and smiled sweetly. The redheads grin fell slightly in disappointment. He had obviously been expecting a more extreme reaction. With hardly a second thought, Sam took the hanger from Schuldig's grasp.

Schuldig let the female have the hanger and stared in barely concealed confusion as she looked it over like it was the most remarkable thing she'd seen all day. Sam looked up at him after a moment and smiled again.

"You have very interesting taste Schuldig, but are you sure this is the one you want me to model?" Schuldig stared stupidly, not quite convinced he was hearing this.

"I mean you weren't over there very long, maybe you should go back and check?" The young woman stared at him. When he didn't respond she held the item in question out in front of her and backed up till she was standing next to him. She looked up at him and began.

"Ok now picture me in this." She pointed at the clothing. "You really think I'd look good?" Sam asked him in what seemed to be honest curiosity.

Schuldig looked from her to the black, see through material. His brain was starting to feel a little mushy.

"I mean woman don't pick these things out for ourselves you know. It's not like we wear them all the time, those straps would get a little uncomfortable under our cloths." She pointed thoughtfully. "They do basically exist for you guys." Sam gave him a playful push on the shoulder. "But hell we don't even wear them very long for you I guess; you have it peeled off within the first five minutes, don't you?"

Schuldig seemed to have lost his ability to speak. Sam stared at the garment for a second longer, then back at the redhead.

"So I guess the more appropriate question is: is this the one you'd like to pull off me the most?" Without a word Schuldig turned and headed in the opposite direction. Sam stared after him then back at the garment in her arms.

"I guess that's a big yes." She said in satisfaction.

"Where's Schuldig going?" Nagi asked, coming up behind her with a pile of cloths in his arms. Sam turned and smiled at the puzzled youth.

"Restroom break I guess. Why don't you look around a bit more? I have something I need to try on real fast."

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"That bitch!"

"I know"

"She's evil!"

"I know."

"The devil incarnate!"

"I know…… isn't it great?"

Schuldig looked up at the white haired man standing next to where he crouched.

"No it isn't great." Schuldig commented in a sulky tone, and took a long drag on his cigarette. Farfarello shrugged and continued to stare blankly at the cars in the parking lot.

Farfarello had of course observed the entire spectacle between his teammates, as had many other innocent customers, but unlike them, Farf had enjoyed it fully and had no intention of complaining to the manager.

The young Irishman turned suddenly, stared thoughtfully at his senior member for a moment, then burst into hysterical, and to normal humans, rather insane sounding laughter.

"Shut the hell up!" Schuldig yelled. Farfarello ignored the enraged redhead and slid down the wall into a sitting position.

"She got you!" The white haired man managed to gasp between fits of laughter.

"A second time no less…" He closed his eye and calmed himself suddenly.

"…in the same day." He finished serenely. When Farfarello opened his eye, Schuldig was staring at him with a "are you quite finished" look. For a moment, only the sound of traffic could be heard as the assassins silently contemplated to themselves in the dim light of the underground parking lot.

"She didn't get me." Schuldig growled finally. Farf chuckled in a way that could give small children nightmares and just stared at his teammate.

Schuldig just glowered silently back.

"This renewed tension between you two is interesting. Where did it come from though?" Farfarello asked, staring at the other man slyly. The German sucked heavily on the cigarette and continued to remain quite.

"I'm thinking it has something to do with our last job." The white haired man commented as he turned back to staring at the rows of unoccupied cars.

Schuldig took in a few more lungfuls of smoke before abandoning the cigarette on the concrete ground and standing.

"You coming?" The telepath asked casually, rubbing the toe of his shoe over the glowing bud.

"Yeah." Farf answered and stood as well. The two teammates headed through a nearby employees entrance and reentered the mall.

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Sam sipped at her cherry slushy and stared thoughtfully at the passing crowd. Next to her, Nagi munched on French-fries and downed an industrial sized coke. They had lost Farfarello and Schuldig almost half an hour ago and were currently waiting for them in the food court.

Normally, it would worry Schwarz members to lose sight of the Irishman for so long in a public building, but Nagi was quite sure he had seen the white haired man walk off after Schuldig. So with this reassuring information the two had set off to find lunch.

Sam slumped lower in her plastic seat, full on chicken salad and stolen french-fries. The food and wandering had made her drowsy, but sleeping in the center of a crowded cafeteria was an unattractive idea. To keep from falling off her chair in a lethargic state, the young woman had taken to guessing what the people passing by had in the bags they carried.

She was trying to decide what a bald man with a Bath and Body bag could have bought when a green glimmer passed by in the corner of her eye. Sam roused herself slightly and turned to look harder at the ghostly aura. She focused in on a child, a young girl, maybe 10 years old. The more attention the woman paid, the brighter the green glow became, till finally, the shine stopped growing. The light was nearly three inches thick all around the girl's body.

(A girl of the earth.) Some part of her mind whispered to her. (A strong one.) Sam thought to herself in surprise. The young woman knew that this little girl was a rarity among rarities; Sam had only ever seen one other. She doubted her teammates would know anything about them.

Sam closed her eyes as that green light began to pull up unwanted memories.

(You have a special gift, I hope you use it well.) The young woman thought to the girl and squeezed her shut eyes tight, not wanting to see that light again.

(Special gift huh?) The thought invaded her mind seconds later. Sam's eyes flew open in surprise. She turned quickly from her survey of the crowd to see Schuldig and Farfarello standing next to their table.

"You see something interesting over there Sammy?" The redhead asked with a smirk. Sam looked over shoulder at the spot the girl had been in but, to the young woman's relief, she was nowhere in sight. Sam shrugged as she turned back to the group.

"No, not really." She answered as calmly as she could manage. The redhead raised a curious eyebrow.

"Really, because I was sure I heard something about a gift." Sam stared at the telepath for a moment then let her eyes fall to the floor, there, she spotted one of her purchases.

"Yeah… I guess… I was thinking about a gift." Sam said and reached down under her chair. She pulled a small pink bag up and set it on the table. She then looked up at Schuldig. He seemed to have figured out what was in the little bag. The telepath was having a hard time finding a good reaction to this development.

"I don't know who it's going to be for though." Sam commented staring up at him. "Thanks for finding it for me, it looks perfect." She smiled.

Schuldig decided annoyed was a good safe emotion. He glowered and plunked into a nearby chair, muttering about insane females.

Nagi stared between the two, not quite sure what was going on. Meanwhile Farfarello took an extra seat beside Sam, looking thoroughly amused.

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Sam put her pen down on the pile of work in her lap and stretched her arms up over her head with a great yawn. She turned her head slightly then, staring out the dark window, trying to make out the falling snow beyond the glass. The winter months had officially begun, snow coming down for nearly a week off and on.

It was now one thirty in the morning and she was waist deep in paperwork because Brad had once again asked her to work late. She had agreed, foolish enough to believe she might manage to finish it all before twelve.

Sam turned slightly to observe her silent companion as he continued to work undauntedly on reports which contents were a mystery to everyone in the house except maybe Schuldig. She considered trying to pressure him to shut off the laptop and go to sleep, but was well aware that the man was a certifiable workaholic and wouldn't have it. Instead the young woman rose from her seat on the couch with a final stretch of cramped, unused leg muscles and headed to the kitchen. Five minutes later she returned and carefully sat a new cup of coffee next to the last, long empty mug on the clairvoyants desk.

Brad paused long enough in his work to give her a glance the woman had come to recognize as appreciative, though it lacked most of the basic components of expressed gratitude. Sam responded to the slight gesture with a smirk, then picked up the empty cup and took it back to the kitchen.

The young woman worked for another half an hour before Brad called to her suddenly.

"Sam, would you come here please?"

Sam pulled herself up off the couch and walked over to her bosses desk.

"Yeah?" She asked, sitting on one corner. Brad handed her a piece of paper.

"Read that." He commanded. The women blinked at her employer. He seemed slightly put out. She turned her attention to the paper and read through it. It was a letter sent by email, it sounded like someone wanted Schwarz to attend some sort of social event in a month or so.

Sam looked up at Brad, not quite sure what it was about the letter that had him perturbed.

"Yes and?" She asked. The clairvoyant looked up at her from were he had been staring thoughtfully at the desk.

" They say they want the _five_ of us to come. I never told them you were a member." Sam raised an eyebrow. When Brad said "they and them" the young woman automatically assumed he was referring to their employers.

" You never told them about me?"

"I said you were a secretary." He muttered distractedly, eyes back on his desktop. "Most employers don't ask assassins to bring secretaries on missions." He added. Sam shrugged.

"It is some sort of party, maybe their hinting you need a date." She suggested nonchalantly. Brad raised his eyebrow and suggested his thoughts.

"Or maybe, it means that they have more surveillance on our movements then I first anticipated."

"Is that a bad thing?" Sam was unsettled, but more so by Brads concern then by their employers.

"It could be."

"Should I be worried?" She asked. Brad cocked his head to the side slightly.

"I wouldn't worry yet." He answered simply. The man then turned back to the computer, dismissing her silently.

Sam remained perched on the side of the desk, wondering why the man had bothered to share this information with her. He often kept her out of the loop on matters of Schwarz's concern, unless it was essential that she know. Did he trust her opinion now, or was he just more unsettled by their employers then he let on?

Sam continued to stare carefully at her leader, aware that she was somewhat in his way as she was actually sitting on a pile of his paperwork. But she couldn't bring herself to leave just yet. From her seat she could see just how warn the 28 year old was. Men Brads age were not supposed to look as tired as the clairvoyant did. Brad carried it well though, he never complained, never took a break, was always calm, always immaculately groomed. He never seemed to buckle under the pressure.

The others weren't like Brad. They broke down once in a while. Schuldig drank, Farf raged at the world and even Nagi went into short depressed stupors. Sam hated to see them that way, even Schuldig. But at least it was a release of some sort. Brad didn't seem to have one. Sam worried that eventually the Oracle was going to implode under the pressure.

He needed to relax more, but what can you do to distract a workaholic long enough for them to relax? Get them laid, that was the obvious answer for a man , but Brad Crawford really wasn't a normal man. He was focused, so much so, he ignored his body's needs and wants. The clairvoyant was like an evil monk, he devoting his life to the pursuit of a higher power, a power only he understood.

So how does a girl get a guy like that to take some physical interest to her? Sam found herself wondering. She has to get his attention first off. But was she sure she wanted that attention from him? She supposed the fact that she was even musing an idea like this must mean something along the lines of yes.

The young woman stared thoughtfully at the clairvoyant for a few more moments as he continued to diligently ignore her presence.

"Brad?" Sam asked finally.

"Yes?" He replied calmly, not even looking up. The young women put her question simply.

"Would you like to sleep with me?"

The mans fingers promptly slipped down the keyboard and produced a string of gibberish. Sam didn't need Schuldig to figure out what the man was probably thinking.

(Why didn't I see that one coming?)

The young woman figured that bluntness was the best policy with a guy like Brad, he didn't have time for seduction and beating around the bush.

Brad recovered fast from his initial shock, calmly deleting the error marring his document before spinning his chair slowly to stare at his frank teammate. The clairvoyant then leaned back, his gaze intent as he looked her up and down.

Sam had to admit she felt uncomfortable under that piercing stare. She wasn't used to having eyes so intimidating rove over her so obviously. Yet she supposed it was what she should have expected as a response from her leader.

"Very much so." He said simply and nonchalantly, as if answering some sort of strange survey. Sam's lip quirked upward, feeling weirdly amused by his quick acceptance, and strangely bemused by her own part in bringing this subject about. Her mouth seemed to be moving faster then her brain was processing its actions. Was she really asking her cold, ruthless leader to sleep with her?

"Now?" Sams mouth formed.

Apparently she was.

Brad didn't bother to answer this time, he just reached out, grabbed her by the elbow and knee, then dragged her across the desks surface towards him. Papers went scattering onto the floor as the man dropped Sam into his lap.

Sitting sideways across the clairvoyants long legs , one of the mans hands holding the back of her neck, the other moving slowly up from her knee to her thigh, Sam wondered vaguely to herself how long Brad had been interested in her. He'd never displayed any attraction to her before. Yet he was so intense towards her now, his tongue had already worked its way into her mouth. She'd assumed he'd be interested enough to accept her offer, but this was more passion then she'd expected, or maybe he'd just needed to get laid more then she'd realized.

Her thoughts began to fizz out of clarity as her full attention was caught up in the man holding her. All her senses registered how clean and businesslike he was, he tasted like coffee and mouth wash, smelled of cologne and soaps and even his shirt felt smooth and wrinkleless.

It was only when she realized Brads hand was working at undoing the front of her jeans that Sam came back to herself enough to realize something. She absolutely did not want this to happen in a chair in his office. It was too much like being a slutty secretary doing an older, married guy in some corner office of a skyscraper. After another minute of rough kissing Sam managed to get one hand over Brads mouth, allowing her to speak.

" Not here!" She rebuked. Her leader raised an eyebrow wordlessly, questioning her right to scold him.

" We'll mess up your paperwork more." She added carefully, supporting her objection.

Brad pushed her hand away.

"Of course." He answered and rose from his seat, forcing her to rise quickly. Sam led the way to the door connecting the clairvoyant's room to his office. But before she could open it, Brads arm wound past her body and grabbed the knob first, holding the door shut. The young women turned back slowly to look at the man, wondering what he was thinking.

Brad had trapped her between the door and his body, and now stared down at her with considering eyes.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" He asked calmly. Sam stared back at her employer for a moment in bemusement before realizing why he would ask such a question. He wasn't asking her because he cared about their relationship as leader and subordinate, or even because he worried about her having second thoughts. He was asking because he didn't want to be accused of being pushy later. He was covering his ass. Making sure she couldn't complain if she was regretful afterwards or expecting more from him. Brad was a business man right down to his core and all events in his life applied.

Sam smiled at the man slyly and leaned closer to his large frame. Carefully, she hooked her finger through his tie and pulled it undone, pulling him closer as she did.

"Very much so." She breathed.

Sam was by no means sleeping with Brad simply for his benefit, she wasn't that selfless. She was stuck in a house with three very attractive older males, and living a life of total celibacy; it was starting to really suck. A girl needs attention too, and she hadn't gotten any for a long time.

Brad let his lip curl upward slightly before pressing Sam up against the closed door and smothering the breath from her lips. Sam tensed momentarily, unexpectedly overwhelmed by the mans intimidating presence, but she melted quickly, the hunger for another's nearness quickly overriding the fears held.

Digging her fingers into the thick, dark, hair at the back of the clairvoyants neck, she reciprocated his rough passion, allowing the kiss to deepen and evolve. Brad slid his agile, eager fingers down the young womans side and up the inside of her shirt. There they tormented her sensitive skin, running over her stomach, down to the small of her back, and up to work on undoing her bra. Sam meanwhile began the painstaking process of undoing the buttons on the clairvoyants shirt with her free hand. Suddenly the door behind her popped open as Brad remembered that he was still holding the knob. The young woman clung desperately to her leaders neck to keep from falling to the floor.

"Warn me before you do that!" She hissed in his ear.

"Hmm." Was Brads only reply as he scooped her up off her feet, entered the room and kicked the door shut behind them.

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Schuldig groaned groggily as the morning light invaded his sensitive eyes and alerted him to a pounding headache. He was hungover, very hungover. He snarled weakly at the sun, the window and the whole morning that had dared conspire to wake him, before dragging himself off the bed and stumbling over to a dresser where his stash of aspirin was. Swallowing two dry, the telepath then directed his attention at the clock. It was eight o'clock in the goddamn morning! How was that even possible! He wondered and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Schuldig had been out late the night before and had come in around 2 A.M. Then after that he'd been kept up by something else. What was it though? He couldn't remember real well. The redhead rubbed his forehead and leaned heavily on the dresser.

Suddenly his head jerked upward, away from his hand as it came back to him. Noises. Not physical noises no, the walls in his room were pretty thick, but not thick enough to block out mental noise. Schuldig groaned, feeling a little ill suddenly.

Sam and Brad, now that came out of nowhere. He was a little surprised his leader, Mr. Freeze, Mr. I'm so above you dirty, emotional, little chimps, was even capable of such a primitive, human, act of physical need.

Schuldig left the stable dresser he'd been using to keep himself upright and ventured carefully back to his bed. There he sat on its edge and began clumsily working on the buttons of the shirt he'd been too drunk to remove the night before.

Then of course there was her, what was she thinking? Did she think that man was going to return any feelings she had for him, was she that naïve? She shouldn't be with that man.

The redhead, now free of his shirt, headed unsteadily out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom. He managed to reach the door without bumping into any walls, but just as he was about to grab the door handle, the door opened inward. Schuldig, in his unsteady state, had put too much dependence on the door being where it was supposed to be and since it wasn't, he ended up tumbling into the room and crashing in an undignified heap on the floor. Dazed and confused he looked up at the person who had intended to leave the room before a large, hungover telepath had crashed in.

(Speak of the devil.) He managed to think through his daze.

Sam in nothing but a towel, had just barely managed to avoid ending up underneath Schuldig, and was now staring down at him in surprise. After a moment the look melted into amusement, as she seemed to realize what was wrong with him.

" Have an interesting evening Schuldig?" She asked. The man in question pulled himself up off the floor, attempting to regain some of his dignity.

" Maybe." He said, taking in her state of undress with carnivorous interest. Sam seemed to notice the attention she was receiving and raised an eyebrow at him. The young women then turned to leave.

Schuldig scowled slightly at her back, unwilling to leave the conversation at that. His frown suddenly became a wide, nasty, smirk as an idea flitted into his fuzzy head.

" I'm sure my evening wasn't half as interesting as yours was though." He commented nonchalantly, staring at her retreating form.

Sam stopped dead and turned to look at the man over her shoulder. Her gaze was sufficiently more unsure then before.

"I suppose." She commented simply. Schuldig moved a little closer to the girl and leaned heavily against the sink.

"Trying to rack up brownie points with the boss man by, 'working late', I see." The redheads tone was sly and suggestive. Sam tensed and glared momentarily at the unkempt, bleary eyed man. Then closing her eyes briefly, she ran a hand through her hair. Attempting to control her displeasure and at the same time, the damp tresses in her face.

"Whether I 'work late' or not is really none of your business." She informed Schuldig calmly, not looking at him as she spoke. The redhead meanwhile continued to grin at the young woman, sensing discomfort in her.

"It is when it keeps me up at night." He declared casually, cocking his head slightly, trying get a look at her face.

"You know physical sound may not carry well through thick walls, but mental noise does." This topic had put teeth marks in the young women's dignity, Schuldig could see it on her face and in her mind. He intended to keep gnawing away till he left real impressions.

"If you're so desperate and lonesome for male companionship, there are better options. Options that won't make you look like a slutty secretary in a cheap porno flick." The man grinned wolfishly.

Sam twisted irritably to face the redhead, and glared up at him.

" So a film involving a guy, drunk of his ass on cheap liquor, hanging out in a dirty dark room is somehow better quality?" She hissed then turned quickly back around and headed for the hall. Schuldig sneered, feeling unexplainably angry with the young woman. Without really thinking about it, the telepath lunged forward, grabbed Sam by the waist and dragged her back into the bathroom.

" Schuldig! You ass! Get the hell off me!" The young women raged and attempted to kick and elbow her captor. Yet even in his hung-over state Schuldig could somehow fend off an ass whooping better then a door. Which, he somehow managed to stagger into and trip against, before hitting the floor again; bringing Sam with him.

The redhead groaned, the jolt up his spine not helping his aching head.

" Let go of me you stupid shit bag!" Sam was still snarling and spitting like an angry cat. Somehow the mans hold on her waist had remained strong.

Schuldig stared at the women's bare shoulders, unsure of where to go from here. He hadn't been thinking when he'd grabbed her. He really hadn't had any intention at all when he did it, he just hadn't wanted her to leave yet. Now he found that the anger that had caused this act of stupidity had left him, and all that remained was a strange dull, heaviness in his gut, as if he'd been slugging shots of swamp mud all night.

" Schuldig you stupid fuck!" Sam managed to slam her elbow into his side at that moment. The mans arms went loose as the pain needled through his insides, allowing the young woman to launch herself out of his grip and take off in a huff down the hall.

The telepath collapsed to the floor, resisting the urge to vomit all over it. He was convinced that if he did, it would be thick, black, and a pain in the ass to scrub off the white floor.

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Awww, Schuldigs hurtn bad, poor little bugger.


End file.
